Next Year We'll Do Better

Next year we’ll do better

I talked about

Putting that new carpet down

Not sure where the money’s

Going to come from for that

But we’ll figure it out

I just don’t want you to worry

Because your teachers are all saying

It’s affecting you

Not that your grades are bad

Just that you’re pulling on your hair

And they’re worried about your weight

Plus some other stuff

Granted, it’s easy for me

To sit on your bed

And tell you this year

Will be different

But, you know, I think

That every so often

You get to a place

Where things have

To be different

And that’s where we’re at now

We really don’t have a choice

But to change

Meaning me

Meaning I have to change

You just have to--

You just have to

Remember you’re a kid

And not do anything

But be a kid

I appreciate you

Going above and beyond

Around the house

Taking care of your sisters

And fixing up the room

For your grandma

While I was getting better

But now we have to get back to

Some kind of routine

Nobody’s saying that January 1st

Everything’s going

To go back to normal

I know that’s not how it works

But we have to use this

As a way to reset ourselves

You know what I mean?

I think we were all hoping

That if we stayed how we were

Time would move backwards

And we’d get some of the good stuff

We used to have back

But…

It doesn’t work that way

I can’t be laying up in bed

And you can’t be sitting at school

Wondering if there’s enough food in the fridge

To make dinner for everybody

After you do your homework

The school is only being nice for now

But pretty soon

They’re going to send people around

And if we’re not up to snuff

They’ll start making moves

To clear us all out of here

I don’t like scaring you

But it’s time we all

Got a little scared

I know whose fault it is

Don’t worry

This isn’t about blame

I just need you to not fight me on this

When the time comes

For me to get back on my feet

It’s hard when you’ve been calling the shots

To just stop and let somebody else do it

Even when it’s the person

Who should have been doing it all along

So when the time comes

You just gotta let it happen

Like I said, it won’t be first of the year

It probably won’t even be

The first month

But I’ll get there

And when I get there

You gotta let me

Come back in

Like you’re okay with it

So your sisters and your grandma see

That I can handle it

Otherwise we’re all in trouble

Next year we’ll do better

Because if we don’t

There might not be

Many more years together

That’s why we have to start getting ready for it

We have to think about

How good everything’s going to be

With the new carpet

And the new stove I’m going to buy

And the flowers we’re going to put on the table

For when we have dinner

We have to keep all that in mind

Because it’s going to be a big change

When it comes

When it comes

It’s going to pretty much

Knock us all

For a loop