This is difficult for me to write.
Elliot and I have been watching “The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams” TV series. I watched it when I was age 6, 7, 8 and fell in love with it. Adams was my idol for many years, and I wanted to grow up and live in the Colorado wilderness in a log cabin with animals.
Elliot cries when the the opening song, “Maybe” by Thom Pace, comes on. He asks me about the song’s lyrics all the time. “Is that true, daddy? Is there a door into another land inside the forest?”
At first it was gentle tears. But yesterday, Elliot cried with full bawling and sobbing. When I asked him what is wrong he said, “It’s so beautiful.” I hugged him and held him so close.
We listen to “Maybe” on the Spotify, too. And he cries very loudly.
He did it again tonight (April 9, 2025). Cried hysterically. “It’s about beauty,” he says through the tears. I hug him hard and hold his hand.
“That whole song is about the beauty of nature,” as he sobs. “I cry because it’s so beautiful. If God didn’t create nature, I wouldn’t cry.”
I hug him. I tell him how special he is, that he appreciates nature. He says he was born with it and that Gabe doesn’t appreciate nature. He tells me that he doesn’t think he wants to be indoors playing video games; he wants to be outside in nature.
I tell him he is a wonder, and that I’m so lucky to be in his life. I’m thrilled that he has found music that stirs big feelings, and I tell him so. This is the beauty of music. I’m not sure he agrees with me — he says it is the beauty of nature that is making him cry.
Then he says this song is more special than John Denver or “Time in a Bottle” (Jim Croce).
I am overjoyed to have such a sensitive son who cries over the beauty of a song.
