I was pretending to be Aaron one night, Testing Chatty Kathy, telling her your side— Trying to see if she would just agree with me, Or tell me truths I'd rather hide. Then she turned the question back on me, And asked what I couldn't know: "Could all of this have been avoided If you'd just made the video?" I don't know. But sometimes I can't help wondering How different things might be If you'd just made The thirty-second video For me. You would've done it for your mother, For your siblings or your friends. For your aunts, I can't imagine Thirty seconds being where it ends. I've watched you make those little videos, Clip after clip, with time and care— Your best friend's athletes got so many, You gave your gifts so freely there. So it wasn't that you couldn't. It wasn't something strange or new. You gave those thirty seconds freely— Just not when I asked you to. I asked because I knew your talent, I loved the work I'd seen you do. It wasn't about saving money— I wanted something made by you. What I discovered after that night in September Made me almost have to laugh— I still needed that little video, So I went to Fiver for the task. Someone made me three in just one day And do you know what I had to pay? Fifty dollars each. Could it all have been avoided For a mere fifty bucks? You didn't even have to make it— You could've paid and sent it on. I never would have known the difference. I would have thought it came from you all along. Fifty dollars. Thirty seconds. Could it all have been avoided If you'd just done it? You would still have the equipment and the shop We'd poured so much into. More than a hundred fifty thousand dollars Invested there for you. You would still have the grand piano Your Dad's tools and so much more, too But those are things. They're only things. There's something bigger than all of this. Because beyond the shop and piano, Beyond anything money could measure, You could have kept your father In your life. And that's worth more Than all the rest together. Could it all have been avoided For fifty dollars and half a minute? Could one little favor have changed That September night before we ever got in it? A shop. A piano. Family dinners. Holidays and ordinary days. Fifty dollars. Thirty seconds—such a small, small ask Compared to all we'd given to you so freely. And the harder question That rises underneath: If you put fifty dollars on one side And everything that's gone on the other— What do you see? Because I know you didn't stand there And deliberately make that trade. You didn't say "I'll give up Dad, The shop, the piano, everything Including memories waiting to be made." I know life isn't that simple. I know that's not exactly what occurred. But when I look at where it started, The comparison still feels sooo absurd. And here's the part I never expected: Your dad and I don't wish it back. We don't wish I'd never asked you. We've actually talked about that. Because if one little video Could pull all of this into the light The video wasn't the problem. It just revealed what wasn't right. Maybe fifty dollars could've postponed it. Maybe we'd have gone another year. Living the same life, Never knowing what was underneath here. And as painful as the truth has been, We'd rather know Than keep pretending. So no— I don't wish I'd never asked. Still... Could it all have been avoided If you'd just done the video? That's the question that began this song I think it's safe to say 'Probably So.' We'd probably still all be together. But it would have simply delayed The reckoning that finally came When something underneath us gave. Maybe fifty dollars could've saved us. Maybe fifty dollars couldn't. But I'll probably always wonder What might have happened If you had. Could it all have been avoided For fifty dollars? For a thirty second video? Could your father still be in your life? Could all of this have gone another way If you'd simply done one thirty second video? And how does it feel When you look at what it cost? Not fifty dollars. But everything that has been lost. I know it wasn't really money. I know the video didn't cause the tear. That thirty second video revealed Something already there. And once we saw it, There was no going back. Could fifty dollars Have avoided all of this? Maybe. Could fifty dollars Have fixed what was underneath it? Probably not. And that's why, After everything, Your dad and I are glad I asked for the video and it went the way it did. Because fifty dollars Might have kept us living the old life. But it couldn't have made That old life true.
