If That's What Keeps You Here

So a boy moves
And you move with him, huh?

Simple as that

And you walk around here saying--

Might as well
Might as well go
Now that he's going
Why stay here?

Why stay here.

You know, I'm of a certain time I guess
When I was growing up
We weren't like you kids
Boppin' all over the world
Lookin' to settle down anywhere
But where we were from

We took pride in our roots
We didn't try hacking away at them
Just so we could drive four hours
And feel like we were in another world

We didn't believe that problems were located in one place
We believed they started with us
And that it was our job to deal with them
Not--move away from them

And yes, you got married
And when you got married
You learned to put the person you were married to first
But that didn't mean they started being
Your only thing

The only thing that mattered

We still had family to think about
And friends
And sometimes our friends
Were closer to us than our families
People we knew all our lives

You know people since you're born
And suddenly you meet a boy
And you're dating for awhile
And one day he moves to New York
And you have to go with him
Because you look at everything you have
Everything you've built
Everybody you know
And you say
It's not enough

Not the way he's enough

Boy, he must be something, huh?

Like I said, I'm of a time
A time when if somebody offered you a fancy job
And it was a hundred miles away
From everybody you loved
You said, 'Thanks, but no thanks'
And you walked away from the fancy job
Because you knew that when you die
And you go up to Heaven
God doesn't ask to see your resume

He says--How'd you treat the people down there that loved you?

Anyway, that's what I think
That's what I believe
If you're interested
And you're probably not
Not really
Because you're going to do what you want
No matter what I say

Now, as to your question--
Is your Mom sick?

Yeah, she's sick

But honestly, if that's the thing that's going to keep you here
I mean, if that's the only thing--

Because maybe this might be your last Easter with her
Or summer, or Thanksgiving, or Christmas

Then--

Then just go
Go anyway

How do you know how many summers you're going to get with your brother?
Or with your best friend?
How many more Thanksgivings do you think you're going to get with your grandma?

How many more Christmases do you think you're going to have with me?

Well...

Your Mom's sick, she is
But if that's it
If that's what keeps you here
And nothing else?

Then, sweetheart
Even though I love you
Past insanity and back

Maybe you should just go

If a dying relative is all that keeps you here
Then I got news for you
We're all going to croak sometime
And you can't plan to be there every time it happens

All you can do is make the most of however much time
We've all got with each other
And to do that, you have to be present

You have to be here

So that's your choice

Do what you want
I'll love you either way
I'll be proud of you either way
You know that

But I gotta say
It worries me

It worries me that people your age
Find a choice like this
So hard to make

It makes me wonder if we--
You know, your parents--
If maybe there was something
We forgot to teach you

And if there's enough time left
To teach you now