Still standing

He said, “Son, tie your laces tight,

Life won’t wait and it don’t slow down,”

We learned the world on midnight drives,

Broken streets, radio sound.

He taught me how to read the room,

When to speak and when to let it go,

I didn’t know it then, but every word

Was plantin’ seeds I’d come to know.

I was young, but I was listenin’,

Yeah, every lesson stayed.

When the walls came down, I stayed,

When the house went quiet, I didn’t break,

Everybody else found their way out,

I found my way through.

I grew up fast, I held the line,

Put my heart before my pride,

I am who I am ’cause of you,

Yeah, I’m still standing, Dad, because of you.

You showed me how to shake a hand,

Look a man straight in the eye,

How to carry weight nobody sees

And still sleep good at night.

When things got thin and hope ran low,

And names stopped ringin’ on the phone,

I didn’t leave — I stepped up strong,

Made that house feel like a home.

I didn’t have it figured out,

But I knew what mattered most.

When the walls came down, I stayed,

When the house went quiet, I didn’t break,

Everybody else found their way out,

I found my way through.

I grew up fast, I held the line,

Put my heart before my pride,

I am who I am ’cause of you,

Yeah, I’m still standing, Dad, because of you.

You never promised easy days,

Just said, “Do what’s right, don’t walk away,”

So I carried us through the storm,

With your voice in my head sayin’, “Hold on.”

When the lights went out, I stayed,

When love got tested, I didn’t fade,

I became the man you raised me to,

Not perfect — just true.

I grew up fast, but I grew up right,

Learned what matters in a hard-earned life,

I am who I am ’cause of you,

Yeah, I’m still standing,

And I’m standing strong because of you.

Yeah, the world tried to take its share,

But it never took the love you put right there.