July came hard that year. Water got higher than anybody wanted to see. By the time it finally went back down... Half the farm went with it. July rain came down for days Till the river left its banks Water rolling through Lesterville Taking everything it could take Fences folded, fields washed out Mud covered everything And that old house down by the creek Took more than we could see I saw pictures of the aftermath Heard what all was gone But pictures don't tell the whole damn story When that place is where you're from That old farmhouse Still holding on somehow Walls that watched me growing up Are barely standing now Every board holds a memory Every room knows who I've been I spent years scared to go back there Never thought I'd lose the chance to again That old farmhouse Ain't just timber, nails and stone It's a piece of everything that raised me And soon it'll all be gone Two months later we drove down Her sitting right there by my side First time she'd ever seen the farm First time she'd seen that part of my life I showed her where the water ran And what the flood had carried off Kept pointing out across that place Saying, "That used to be..." a lot She saw broken boards and muddy floors And everything the water scarred I brought my future with me to see my past And damn, that hit me hard Grandma didn't leave us in that house That's not why I stayed away She passed up in the newer place We built farther from the creek one day But those rooms belonged to a time When she was still here with me So walking through that doorway Meant facing what I wasn't ready to see This time she walked in beside me While I told her what used to be where And for a minute through those muddy rooms I could see that old house there I wasn't looking at what the flood had done Or everything that wouldn't be the same I was that kid inside those rooms again And Grandma still knew my name Then came the part I didn't wanna hear... That old house has gotta come down. Too much damage. Too far gone. And I know they're right. But knowing that Don't make goodbye any easier. 'Cause they're tearing down more than timber More than walls and window frames The hardest thing about all of this Is knowing the foundation that raised me Has to be torn away I spent all those years avoiding it Thinking it'd be there someday Now I'd give damn near anything For one more day Before the water came That old farmhouse I finally walked back through With the woman that I love beside me Hearing stories she never knew Every room gave something back to me I thought I'd buried with the past Maybe I needed one more walk through there To know those memories would last That old farmhouse Soon won't be standing there But everything that place gave me Ain't going anywhere Soon there won't be a doorway For me to walk through anymore No old rooms to wander No familiar front porch And it'll hurt like hell to watch 'em Tear down what's left standing there The last solid piece of those days I can still reach out and touch But Grandma ain't in those old floorboards She ain't leaving when they fall She's in every story that I carry Every lesson I still recall The flood can take the farmhouse They can tear it to the ground But they can't take the memories I've still got those around I spent years scared to go back. Now I ain't ready to leave.
