Stand Still Here with Us

I could have titled this song, “A Father’s Plea.”

It was a Saturday evening almost exactly nine years ago. I had spent the day with Jude and Eleanor, who were 6 and 4 years old at the time. We had gone to the park earlier that afternoon, gotten all cleaned up, and were playing in the living room as we waited for dinner. I sat and looked at the two of them playing at my feet and a strange warmth washed over me. I was truly and deeply content. Ever have those moments?

“I love them at these ages,” I thought. “What a fun stage of life.”

But, of course, I knew how fast the years up to that point had passed. And I knew they were only picking up steam. It was in that exact moment–the kids with rosy cheeks and wet hair, smelling fresh in their PJs and lost in their own little worlds of make-believe–that I began to write this song.

It is an attempt to capture in some detail that stage of our life: the first verse is all Jude and the second is all Eleanor. The song is also a pained and earnest plea for life to slow down, that we might savor this stage a little longer.

Spoiler alert: Life did not listen. It did not slow down, and still hasn’t. As I said, that Saturday evening was nearly a decade ago!

I really cannot complain, though. Each stage thus far in the life of our little family has brought its own blessings. I absolutely love the ages the kids are now, the young man and young woman they’re becoming. Betsy and I have so much to be grateful for.

But, if I am honest, I still do wish life would slow down just a bit.

Credits

Words & Music: Bill Wolf
Backing Guitar & Vocals: Thomas Smith
Produced: Thomas Smith
Videography: Alyssa Shepherd
Video Editing: Wilson Cobb