Mama sat me down with Shinedown whisperin’ low,
said “these lyrics say the things I never learned to show.”
Her hands shook slow like the beats in the stereo,
battles in her veins she could never let go.
I was sittin’ there, half child, half shadow,
tryin’ to read her pain like a book I couldn’t borrow.
Every chord in that song felt carved in sorrow—
a message for a future I wasn’t ready to follow.
But the words hit deeper than the life she understood,
tellin’ me: be the person she prayed she always would.
And even though her light dimmed sooner than it should,
I still carry that glow in the cracks of my childhood.
I grew up fast, quicker than I planned,
learnin’ life hits harder when you take it by the hand.
Had a heart full of thunder, but a home full of quiet,
so I learned the world through pain and defiance.
Played grown-man games with a young man’s mind,
chasin’ every bad choice like it owed me my time.
Got scars from the nights when I thought I wouldn’t last,
tryin’ to outrun the future while I tripped on the past.
Every lesson came late with a cost I couldn’t cheat—
time on my record, heavy steps in my feet.
But the pain made a map I can finally understand:
I wasn’t losin’ my youth… I was learnin’ how to stand.
Now I’m buildin’ somethin’ real from the wreckage in my chest,
with a wife who held me down when life put me to the test.
Kids lookin’ up at me with eyes I can’t betray,
so I traded runnin’ wild for a future they can stay.
I’m the sum of every heartbreak, every wrong I corrected,
turnin’ chaos into purpose in a way they never expected.
Mama’s voice stays with me when I’m buried in stress—
“be the person I couldn’t,” and I’m still tryin’ my best.
QCL became my lantern when the world turned black—
a way to turn the pain into somethin’ that gives back.
I’m not perfect, but I’m not who I was before;
every step now’s got a reason at its core.
I ain’t runnin’ from shadows, I’m teachin’ them to leave—
’cause the ones I love are waitin’, dependin’ on me to breathe.
Got more miles on me than people my age,
Tryna bury old heartbreaks in the lines I trace.
From the ones who hurt me to the wounds I made,
The road forgives mistakes I still can’t face.
But I keep drivin’ through the dark just to breathe,
’Cause I know my family’s on the other side waitin’ on me.
I’ve paid my prices in the pain and the time,
Now every mile I take is me leavin’ it behind.
Some nights the road whispers like my mama used to do,
tellin’ me the storms I walked through made me someone new.
I ain’t runnin’ anymore… I’m drivin’ home slow,
to the love that held me steady when I had nowhere to go.
