Isbell's Outfit

Last winter I saw for the first time Jason Isbell on TV. He sang "Outfit", and for the next six months I stopped running. At the time I didn't really know why, but I think it had something to do with what they call a "mid life crisis". I was forty. Baby number seven was on the way and my mother-in-law was battling lymphoma. One was eagerly trying to enter the world, while the other One wanted to hang on long enough for the birth. It was a heavy time.

Isbell's "Outfit" is a song about dads doing what dads do... giving heavy advice to sons: don't end your life early with drugs, make sure you can earn a living, provide and have respect for your family. But what really got me fired up (er.. maybe choked up) was the parallel between my life choices and the song's narrator: we both had children early, we both make a living at a job we had to settle for, and we're taking care of our family.

Time heals, and at forty one I'm back to running, Droppin' The Hammer And Grindin' The Gears as long as I can stand. Do yourself a favor and look at Isbell's Outfit.