When You Come Home

sad song, wonder why no one else thought it was good enuf for a comment so i'll add my own

The beauty of this song is in everything that Mark Schultz does best. He captures the moments that most of us hold dear. The nostalgic memory of childhood at it’s finest. The song begins with a simple piano playing that automatically gives the listener a sentimental view. He then presents a situation that everyone has experienced. He takes us to a place that we haven’t thought of in a while. A time when we were all dependent and scared. A time where the only solace we had when we got hurt was to cry and pray that Mom would be there to help us out. Personally, I recall many memories that I just felt I needed her presence. Right now I’m only 18 and my mother is still alive but for this same reason this song has a strong impact on me. Schultz portrays the mom as smiling and giving him words of encouragment just as moms do. He then brings us into the chorus. As we hear many times throughout the song, the chorus makes us think of our life from birth until around 18 when we move out. It makes us feel that love and that home. The place we were raised, not specifically a house or even a town but the group who we went through the process with. He then takes us into the next step of life, the “leaving” part. As we all do, we have to grow up. Of course this is the natural cycle of life but sometimes it’s a little hard to accept. I know that for me, as excited as I am for the future, I feel an intense feeling inside that says, “Stop right now. Turn around. Go back. I can’t lose this, it’s all that I have.” It’s that peter pan or catcher in the rye syndrome that’s holding me back I guess. I also have a hard time with this because I see it from a mothers perspective. I feel my mom being heartbroken because her son has just moved out to college, or referring to the song moving away for a job. You have raised a child from birth and he or she becomes your everything. 18 years later this child that you’ve seen grow from birth is now leaving you, never to live with you again. The mother see’s herself growing older also and reminisces on her childhood. She see’s life moving faster and faster by the minute. Soon she’ll be a grandmother. And please don’t get me wrong, these are all great events in life, but sometimes when you just take a minute to think about it all, it can make you unbearably sad. A deep sad, a compassionate connected kind of sad that isn’t easy to get over. It’s in the depths of every living person’s heart, sometimes we just don’t have enough time or energy to bring it into our minds. Schultz makes this connection as the mother says “ I’ll miss you son, you’ll be so far away, but I’ll be waiting for the day when you come home.” I have a hard time saying goodbye to my mom when I leave to come back to college at the university of Florida. I really find myself missing her and home in general with my sister, brother, dad and dogs. I love living on my own of course but there’s a special thing about being home. The next and final verse is the tearjerker. The verse that culminates the entire sentiment of the song and leaves us with the fact of life. It starts out with “ Well I don’t think she can hear you now, the doctor told me. Your mother is fading it’s best that you leave.” I have a hard time accepting the fact of death. It’s not an easy concept to wrap your mind around. Death. Someone can’t be talked to anymore, she can’t be there to say, “everything will be alright.” She’s gone through life and now we are left with only memories. I can’t do it. I love too much so I miss too much. I can rationalize many things in this life but this is one that leaves me emotional every time. I guess it does prove love. “I love you son, but their calling me away. Promise me before I go---When you come home, no matter how far, run through the door and into my arms. It’s where you are loved, it’s where you belong. And I will be here, when you come home.” It’s simply amazing. He is able to capture life and emotions in 3 verses of words and a chorus.