I Will Be Grateful For This Day [Companion Version]

I had a girl I knew, she grew, became a woman now
I think that she teaches at one of the schools downtown
We used to roll the windows down and play the music loud
Smoking out in her car, lost in west Omaha

And we'd get drunk and kiss, our bodies twist like shoelaces
Yeah, we never came untied, I guess you were just my type
You know that summer never stopped, I still pretend I'm there
The band's in the living room, the neighbors, they never cared

So when I sat behind the drum set, your heartbeat's what I tried to play
But with the kick and snare so careless, not in time
So you got ahead of me, and I guess I'm still dragging behind

I had a friend who changed his name but couldn't change himself
Never quite figured out, how to deal with what life had dealt
He put a needle in his arm to calm his handsome hell
Who would've imagined it could've worked out so well?

Now he's a shape that moves like echoes through my empty room
And there's a voice that speaks, like someone's right behind me
I turned around and found exactly what you would expect
The clothes I left on my floor, the papers piled on my desk
But where the ink is wet, the cause, effects, what's meant by it?

The story that is incomplete, the picture's left unfinished
So I am writing my own ending, I let my pen bleed black or blue
And I will color in the meaning, it will be gold and green and true
And I'll learn to love my new discovered proof

I'll be grateful for this day
I will be grateful for each day to come