WRITE ABOUT A SONG...

I had just met a girl. THE girl, actually.

I was sprawled out on a patio chair in Palm Desert, CA, headphones in, set to a random mix. I was surrounded by the kind of air that feels warm on your skin, but even more so in your nostrils, if that makes sense. And it probably had something to do with the perfect state of whiskey-drunk that I found myself in, but I couldn’t stop staring at this amazing tree — I would later learn it was a Willow Acacia — swaying in the tepid breeze. It was mesmerizing, for some damn reason.

But then the song “Pieces” by Red came on the radio.

I come to you in pieces, so you can make me whole.

I’m one of those people who falls for songs without really paying attention to the meaning of the lyrics. But that line caught me, made me think of this girl I just met. So ever since then, it has been one of our songs.

It wasn’t until years later that I found out Red was a Christian rock band, and the song is about Jesus. Which to this day makes me and my wife — both Agnostics — chuckle.