A Song of His Own

“Dad, I made a song.”

That was the first thing my son said to me when I got home from work.

“That’s cool, pal!” I responded, thinking he had jotted down a few lyrics to show me.

“Do you want to hear it?” he asked.

Hear it, I thought. Interesting. “Of course!” I said, following him to his room.

I sat on the corner of his bed as he went to the computer.

“Ready?”

I nodded.

He hit play, and from his speakers came an actual rock song. Drums. Bass. Electric guitar. And a vocalist singing about the Colorado Avalanche (my son’s team) defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning (my team) in the NHL Stanley Cup Finals in 2022, the year we were in Colorado and went to a finals game. A game that, as my son constantly reminds me, the Avalanche won 7-0 on their way to hoisting the cup.

As I listened to the song, I watched the smile on my son’s face, especially when the lyrics touched on the game we attended, continued to widen—the smile of pride, connection, and love. It’s the single best sight that I will ever see.

Tampa’s thunder tried to fight,
But Colorado owned the night.

When the song finished, I stared with my jaw dangling open, which caused his smile to grow even wider.

“How?” I asked.

And he walked me through his process, prompting an AI tool with styles, themes, and concepts until he had a completed song.

“Well,” I said. “This has to be on Spotify.”

“Really?” he asked, his voice caught somewhere between disbelief and excitement.

“Really,” I confirmed. “I’ll figure out how to get it distributed so that everyone can hear it.”

For all the challenges my son has, his creativity and ability to figure things out are truly inspiring. When my wife and I were discussing her next book, my son decided to write a Fortnite Tips book, complete with an illustrated title. He gets inspired by videos of his favorite players and builds giant arenas and stadiums in Minecraft—sometimes following tutorials, other times just experimenting until it works. And now, he figured out how to make a song.

It could have been so easy for him to let obstacles define him. To look at the world through the lens of what isn’t possible. But he doesn’t. He assumes everything is possible, and then he goes and proves it. As a parent, it’s more than I could have ever wished for him.

A few weeks later, I went into his room and showed him my phone. I had the Apple Music app up and, ready to play, was the hit new song from the artist neurodefender titled “Avalanche Rising.”

We sat together and listened to it again. He gave me the same look and smile as the lyrics recounted the Avalanche victory. He grabbed his phone and pulled the song up on Spotify, replaying it for the rest of the night. When he joined his friends online, I could hear him telling them about his song, too.

And in that moment, I realized something: no matter the struggles, no matter the setbacks, my son keeps finding ways to make his voice heard. Sometimes literally. Always beautifully. And I’ll never stop listening.