Thorn in my soul

This is the hardest song I've ever written. My mother left when I was around two years old. I was too young to understand why, but not too young to feel the absence she left behind. For most of my life, that absence became anger, confusion, and questions that never seemed to have answers. As I got older, I learned more about the life she had lived and the trauma she had carried. I discovered that some of the wounds that shaped my childhood had shaped hers long before I was born. That doesn't erase the pain. It doesn't change what happened. But it changed the way I saw her. Mental health struggles, childhood abuse, addiction, and trauma don't just affect one person. They create ripples that can travel through generations. This song is about living with those ripples, trying to understand them, and finally finding room for compassion alongside the hurt. In 2022, my mother passed away after years of battling alcohol addiction. We had spoken many times about her wishes, and when the time came, I made the decision to have her life support switched off. It was one of the hardest moments of my life. Now, with Rebecca expecting our baby, I find myself thinking about her more than I have in years. Wondering what she would have said. Wondering if she would have smiled. "Thorn In My Soul" isn't a song about forgetting the past. It's a song about understanding it. And if this song leaves you with one thought, let it be this: If there is someone in your life you still have a chance to forgive, consider doing it. Not because what happened was acceptable. Not because the pain wasn't real. But because one day there may be no more conversations left to have. The people we love, and the people who hurt us, won't be here forever. Sometimes forgiveness isn't something we give to them. Sometimes it's something we give to ourselves. ❤️ Broken Souls & Backroads