Almost exactly 48 hours ago i was feeling some pretty powerful gratitude… I get to be a dad to three little kids i can still scoop up into my arms, I can hug my wife and snuggle our dog, visit my parents, my brothers, my in-laws, and even my grandma (98 years old!)

despite *everything else* - it’s hard not to feel really really really lucky to have so much of what really matters

and well… i guess along with these feelings of gratitude come recurring realizations of impermanence. when people say “enjoy it while it lasts” - like, what do they really mean?

Put down the screens?

Take some deep breaths?

Read more books?

Give more hugs?

Take more pictures? Take fewer pictures?

I don’t know - but it’s worth figuring out.

With that I’ll leave you with my holiday seasonal song “How Many More Decembers”. This idea came to me 48 hours ago and I scribbled down the lyrics, hastily recorded a demo, stayed up too late recording everything else and re-recording the important bits. Even hauled the tripod out to backyard last night to get an album cover shot.

I’m not sure how fast it’ll get to streaming platforms (it’s on the way) but here it is on Bandcamp.

Dave Hawkinshow many more decembers

If you listen closely, you’ll hear interference from my cell phone. You’ll probably hear the water heater click on. You’ll hear some fret buzz and a botched note or two. Nothing’s tuned up, nothing’s been quantized. I accidentally copy pasted my piano MIDI performance into the drum programming (and decided it actually somehow sounded better so I kept it there) I mixed and mastered it myself as best I could; and I think it sounds just fine.

Would love to hear what you think, and please… share with me: how do you “make the most of it” What are your secrets to “living in the moment” and “carpe’ing the diem”

I want to know.

Love,

-Dave