25 Aug Playground

I am lucky to be with the most amazing girl. She has been through a lot. We’ve been through a lot (10 years, off and on, and counting). I wrote a song about her, but honestly every song I write is influenced by her in some way… She showed me A Drop in The Ocean years ago and I made Ocean Drop because of that. She has quirks and is tough to figure out and is gorgeous and she’s fun and depressed and she’s insecure and she’s incredibly strong and resilient and she’s an insanely good mother and wife and she is way too unselfish and on and on and on. Her name is Gabrielle (if you didn’t already know).

We met when we were both 17 years old when she moved to Sacramento and attended my high school for both of our senior years only. Her grandmother was sick and she and her mom moved up from LA to be closer. I first saw Gabrielle in September ’07 crossing campus with her head in a book as she walked because she was too shy to look up. I thought she was maybe a freshmen at first because she was pretty small and I had never seen her before. Eventually I found out who she was and my friends showed me her myspace and she became known as the model girl from LA – I had to meet her.
Eventually one of my bold friends walked up to her and said she should meet us all and I remember introducing myself and noticing she was wearing a gold cross necklace and I asked if she went to church and she said that she did in LA. Later I invited her to my church and asked her for her number (in person, not via myspace) and we went that Sunday and had Chipotle after. And so our relationship began…

Gabrielle came from a home without a father – but not like he just wasn’t there very much because her parents split or she only saw him occasionally, literally he didn’t claim that she was his daughter and she never saw him. I came to know her background – from a tough home situation where her mom struggled with addiction and finances and she moved like every year and changed schools like every grade. I came to understand over the years that she didn’t have true guidance or meaningful love and sincere reassurance as a kid/teen. She had older siblings and the rough, ruthless world around her acting as her compass. The 2000s didn’t help, right, with the social media explosion and general progression of girls looking and acting a certain way that was no bueno (and is still getting worse).

By the time I was 18 and especially when I went off to college, I wasn’t making good decisions by any means and although I was a determined and exceptional student, I was totally all about partying and girls.

Story to be continued…