About Alabama Lifesong

I started Alabama Lifesong because I wanted a place to write.

Not everything I have to say belongs on social media. Sometimes I want to share a story, a memory, or something that's been on my mind without it getting lost in the endless scrolling.

I'm a husband, a father, and a man of faith. I've experienced some wonderful things in life, and I've walked through things I wouldn't wish on anyone.

Along the way, I've learned that life doesn't always turn out the way we planned. There are moments of joy, seasons of heartache, lessons learned the hard way, and ordinary days that turn out to mean more than we ever imagined.

I don't write because I have everything figured out. Far from it.

Sometimes I'll write about faith. Sometimes family. Sometimes loss, memories, or just life in general. There really isn't a particular subject or direction this blog has to follow.

It's simply a place to share some of the things that make up my life.

That's Alabama Lifesong.

Thanks for stopping by.

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A Family Man

I had a dream. I’m not sure how many little boys playing in their sandbox really dream about the boys they will raise, but at 5 years old, that didn’t matter. I had a “ditch digger;” a backhoe by professional definition, and my brother had a “road grader.” Yeah, a road grader’s definition is the same thing for all ages, no matter how old you are. Everyone knows what that is. In this memory, it’s somewhere in the early 80’s, my brother and I are in our sandbox, outside our father’s workshop, playing in sand that is more like the soft soil of a spring-fed hardwood bottom, bordered by a huge willow tree and more pines than you can imagine. There was a thin layer of sand in our box, the most sand our poor family could generate for us, but it wasn’t much. If you dug deep enough, you’d hit hard black soil; even deeper still, was the chert layer that is prevalent in northern Alabama, and especially in St. Clair County. Yes,...

Teenage Grief

I thought I was in the clear. Our lives changed this year. Everything seemed different. We moved Maddie out, and it felt that my annual grief was packed in one of her bags. I was living the good life of an empty nester. I thought the change in circumstances drove away the monsters that haunt me each Fall. I was wrong. Today, on the Eve of Elijah’s 19 th birthday, I found that my supposed victory was ignorance built on sandy soil. I was blindsided…once again. The morning was a normal one; telling Paige bye before she left for work, running in our field, having breakfast with the dogs watching, and waiting to see Paige again before I left for work. Everything was mundane…until the afternoon, when I thought about writing something for Elijah’s birthday tomorrow. I opened Word on my PC but decided I needed a little...

Just an Ol' Brown Dog

She came with our house when we purchased it. She was just an “ol-brown-dog;” one like you would find roaming through any Alabama back road or city street corner. The kind that shelters are full of. The sort that often don’t have a place and a person to love unconditionally. The previous owner of our home had left her there with her 6 puppies. No food. No water. He just abandoned her; left her to fend for herself for over two weeks. I believe you can tell a lot about a man by the way he treats his dog. I dare someone to try and prove otherwise. I had met this dog when we first looked at the house. She played with one of the man’s horses in the pasture before coming up to greet me with a great big smile. I love a smiling dog. I had always wanted one, but that’s not something you find every day. I was puzzled by the name he gave her, June. I was pretty sure that Alabama has a law that forces you to name a smiling dog something to do with their grin. If not, they need...

Alabama Lifesong

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