This morning, while we were driving to school, Campbell asked me to turn on, “The Best Day” by Taylor Swift.
It’s a beautiful song where Swift thanks her mother for giving her the best days despite challenges in her childhood and teen years.
It’s enough to make me cry on an ordinary day, but especially today after the song concluded and Campbell said this:
“You know, Mom, I really like that song. Because if you close your eyes and listen to it, all your sadness goes away.”
I can barely type that without sobbing.
We pulled into school before I could probe further, but I haven’t been able to shake those words all day. What sadness is my little girl masking? She’s the most joyful human you’ll ever meet.
Was she simply empathizing with Taylor’s pain?
Or maybe, just maybe—as her godmother reminded me during my panic—Campbell is just like all of us: someone who feels both happy AND sad.
But unlike many of us—who drown our sadness with food or booze or aimless online scrolling—Campbell’s found a healthy way to process her emotions: music. Beautiful lyrics about a mother’s endless love for her daughter and better days ahead.
Maybe the goal should’ve never been to have “happy” children. Maybe it’s to have alive ones. Children who feel so capable and confident, that even when the dark days arise, they can turn on a song, shut their eyes,
And find their happy again.
To More Love,
Stephanie
