the starting line

My mother drove out to California with her dad
Then we drove back again to scatter his ashes
I barely knew the man, we reminded him he had
Family when he'd forgotten
And when we took a boat out to the starting line
We sat completely silent
My mother held a picture of the two of them in her hands
And she cried in front of me for the third time

All that time, we spend most of our lives on the ground
All that time, we had to wait for years but we finally got around
To letting him down easy
On the starting line in the bay

The Nevada sun scorches my shoulders red
The mountains raise me til I'm ill
I swear to god, it's magic how the toughest climbs
Become the moments I yearn for still
And it's June in 2022
I think something's wrong with me cause I'm not blue
But I barely knew the man
I'm crying not for me, but for you, mom

All that time, we spend most of our lives on the ground
All that time, we had to wait for years but we finally got around
To letting him down easy
On the starting line in the bay
In the bay

The desert's making me go insane
For miles and miles and miles, it's all the same
But we'll get to California, we'll get to California
And it'll all be over, it'll all be done

All that time, we spend most of our lives on the ground
All that time, we had to wait for years but we finally got around
To letting him down easy
On the starting line in the bay