Intro — solo ukulele, then soft brushed drums enter] (instrumental — 8 bars — sets the sunny warm island-soul mood) --- [Verse 1 — sung, gentle, low register] Let me tell you what healing looks like to me — it’s a day of coming home to smiles on three faces in one kitchen. House already clean, meat already pulled that morning — me and my girl cooking dinner together, laughing at nothing, laughing at everything. Dishes done together. Table set for two — sometimes four, sometimes eleven, depends on the day. --- [Hook — sung, warm and full] This is life to me — talking story without our devices, baking cookies on a Tuesday, Uno on the floor, Twister in the living room, Netflix games till we can’t breathe. This is life to me — the meat was pulled that morning, the kitchen already clean, my baby by my side, my people at my door, Grandma Jo watching from somewhere just above the trees. --- [Verse 2 — sung, tender, tempo picks up gently] Zoey and me, Nelani, Makani, Kayla when she comes — mom and sister and auntie, uncles, cousins, all in one house, all at one table. Kids playing in the rooms, kids playing in the yard, someone’s fixing plates, someone’s telling a story they told us last summer and we love it just the same. That’s the life I want. That’s the life I already have — I just had to clear the room for it to come back home. --- [Bridge — sung, spiritual] I’m picking fruit off my own trees, harvesting vegetables from my own soil. Feeding the goats, feeding the rabbit, feeding the cats, feeding the dog, mowing my lawn, folding my laundry, tending my land with my two hands. That’s sovereignty, baby. That’s Grandma Jo in my hands. That’s the seat at the table I’m learning to keep warm. --- [Hook — sung, stronger, layered harmonies come in] This is life to me — talking story without our devices, baking cookies on a Tuesday, Uno on the floor, Twister in the living room, Netflix games till we can’t breathe. This is life to me — the meat was pulled that morning, the kitchen already clean, my baby by my side, my people at my door, Grandma Jo watching from somewhere just above the trees. --- [Verse 3 — sung, dreamier, travel montage feel] Chuck E. Cheese on a Saturday, Scandia when it’s hot. Disneyland one spring, Six Flags for a day, Great Wolf when the rain comes down. And when we’re ready — Maui, Oʻahu, Kauaʻi and the Big Island, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi. The whole lei of islands strung around my daughter’s neck before she turns thirteen. Disney cruise one day, if the money finds us. And if it doesn’t — we still have the yard, the goats, the cousins, the kitchen, and each other. That’s already the whole cruise. --- [Hook — final, full harmonies, warm] This is life to me — talking story without our devices, baking cookies on a Tuesday, Uno on the floor, Twister in the living room, Netflix games till we can’t breathe. This is life to me — the meat was pulled that morning, the kitchen already clean, my baby by my side, my people at my door, Grandma Jo watching from somewhere just above the trees. --- [Outro — sung, then spoken over fading ukulele] I don’t need a strong woman. I don’t need a soft man. I don’t need somebody to save me — I already came home. I just need me, my girl, my family, my land, my ancestors, and a Tuesday. That’s it. That’s the whole prayer. That’s the whole song. Aloha. Mahalo ke Akua. Mahalo Grandma Jo. Mahalo Zoey 🌈 for being the reason I remembered.
