Day 34 - A song that makes you sad

Tim McGraw's If You're Reading This almost brings me to tears every time I hear it. If it's not the lyrics, it's the tune, if it's not the tune, it's the situation and mood I'm in when I decide to listen to the song, and if it's not any of those, I was probably already crying before the song came on.

I remember the first time I heard this song: I was with my Quiz Bowl team driving back from a tournament in Sterling Heights. It was snowing out, and we were driving with a senior in his mom's minivan. We had just lost our last game of the season, and everyone was a little mopey. This song came on the country station.

The premise is depressing: a soldier has left to go to war and has died overseas. This is his final letter to his family - it states that if they are reading the letter, that he's "home" in heaven. There are little notes to everyone in his letter: to his wife, to his mother, to his unborn daughter, and to his father, who was also a soldier.

I wish that the families of soldiers can have something like this (not that I wish for any more soldiers to die). I wish that each of the members can have a personalized goodbye from their soldier. But even more than that, I wish that every soldier can have a round-trip ticket from their place of duty. A round-trip they can remember.