“It is OK to feel sad when you lose someone, but keep the lights on inside as the days grow shorter. Be good to yourself and to others, it’s contagious!”

I wrote these two sentences on TuneCore recently to describe my latest single. I wanted to call attention to a couple issues I have grappled with in recent times, grief and Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD, for short. Releasing “It Gets Late Early These Days” seemed like a really good way to get this out in the open for myself and maybe you as well.

My best friend and songwriting partner, Alan Miller, wrote the lyric for this song. And I jumped on the opportunity to write music for it.

So first up is grief. It is a complicated subject during normal times but these pandemic days it is even more of a thing. We lost my wife’s father, Bill. Our family was unable to say goodbye at the hospital or have a proper wake or gathering to help with grief. I know grief has stages and you can’t move on without passing through the stages. To make it even harder, we lost our dog Buddy a few months later. We had adopted him from Daddy Bill who became unable to care for the sweet pup.

When you add SAD or Seasonal Affective Disorder to the mix, things can really spin out of control if you are not careful.  So here is what I am doing this Fall as we go into the darker season of Winter.

A good friend recommended that I read “A Grief Observed,” by C. S. Lewis. I will be getting outdoors as much as possible. This is somewhat easier as a member of a jogging group that meets three times a week. I will be brightening up the evening lighting at home to combat SAD. With the help of my loving wife, Lena, I will choose healthier meals more often. I will practice more singing and guitar and keep the lights on inside, too.

And I will be good to my self and others, because it’s contagious!  Be well and be swell!