To me this is a beautiful tune. But maybe it’s only beautiful if you hear what I hear and see what I see when I play it. It’s simple enough that it came together in a single evening, and the moment I played it I knew exactly what it was about. In that instant I heard everything. All these emotions I felt so acutely but would never be able to truly describe, all these people and things that I care about immensely, I heard them all with incredible clarity. It’s very short, but I find myself always replaying again and again.

I really thought about doing more with this little ditty; I could definitely hear epic drums and gigantic distorted guitars. It would have turned it into more of a true song, rather than just an emotion manifested in sound. But some things should stay the way they are. In some ways, gratitude is a simple emotion in the same way this song is simple. Yet, when I was listening back to the finished track, I was struck by how many harmonic overtones I never noticed before. I don’t have exceptional ears, but I noticed all kinds of shimmering notes floating above the ones I was actually playing. It reminded me that it’s truly amazing how many intricate things have to happen on an infinitesimal level just to make even a single note happen. Movements in your hands, signals from the brain, vibrations from the string, movement through air. Such is gratitude-a very simple emotion, yet a million indescribable things must happen for it to be felt. Maybe that means that even the simplest things are not really simple after all.

There are many, many people I am grateful for, but there are a few who I would like to mention here. These words are not nearly well-crafted enough to articulate my thanks. But that’s what the music is for-to pick up where words fail. This song is dedicated:

To my Mom and Dad, who always encouraged me to be creative, who took me to every guitar lesson and never told me to practice guitar, never told me I had to get into a good college, or get a good job.

To my mother-in-law Joan, one of the strongest people I have ever known, who has always supported us (even when Michelle and I moved in together at the tender and delightfully naive age of 18).

To Sam and Amber Crawley (and their brood) who have been a second family to us for many years.

To my best friend of two decades, Nick Ferguson. All those hours playing music together and walking English Tavern Road late at night had an indelible impact on my life. Even though we have gone completely different directions so many times, you’ve never been far away.

To my adopted Big Sister, Kristen Melzer. Your capacity to care for others has never ceased to astound me. You are also very wise and the world needs you so very badly. And to my dear friend Lida Bourhill. You are uncommonly brilliant and uncommonly kind and I have learned (and will continue to learn) so much from you. I promise I will never let either of you forget how much you inspire me. And Coco will most certainly need both of you as role models!

To my beautiful wife, Michelle. I love you, and have loved you more than anything for most of our life. I simply can’t imagine a world without you. I have always felt so lucky to be with you, and I have been able to do so many things in life that I never would have even imagined because you have always been by my side. Thank you for always taking care of me, and for always pushing my comfort zone just a little bit at a time (nothing is quite as scary when you’re with me). Thank you for listening to every single raw track and rough mix of every song for weeks and weeks on end. Thank you for proofreading every essay, even though it was sometimes very painful. Thank you for playing all my songs for our Baby Girl (and for taking such good care of her all these months). Thank you for believing in me.

To my unborn daughter, Coco. I would say I haven’t met you yet, but I think that would not be entirely true. I have not seen your face, but I have felt you move and I have talked to you for hours. I have seen you and all the things you will do a thousand times in my imagination. I have a large and vivid imagination, and you live in the brightest corner of it. And I will always love you regardless of whether or not you are anything like I imagine. I love you exactly how you are and however you turn out to be. I know you are mine, and you are ours, and, most importantly, you are your own. All I want is for you to be happy, whatever that looks like for you. See you next week!

And of course, I am grateful for music. Music has really given me everything I ever needed in life; it brought me to my home, it’s how I provide for myself and my family, it’s how I make sense of the world around me. And it’s how I’ve met many, many amazing and important people; indeed, with the exception of my parents, every single person on this list came into my life through music in some way (even though not all of these people are musicians). I could say so much more, but as soon as I think about it the positive ripple effect becomes too great, too massive and important to quantify. And that’s a good thing.