My Life in Song

When your husband writes songs about you.

Hello beautiful readers,

I want to say hi to my international readers especially! RDG is read in 12 countries and that’s amazing. Thanks for being here.

I met Zach 13 years ago this week - our first date was July 5th. I could always tell he was a good egg, but I didn’t anticipate all the beautiful music that would be written about my life.

Below is the soundtrack to my life so far with Zach and Dustbowl Revival. I’m honored to have inspired these gorgeous melodies. What a gift.

I have stories about the other songs, but these are definitely about our life.

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Standing Next to Me

When I first started dating Zach, I observed all his love songs seemed a bit tragic and I said, how about changing that narrative? This is the second love song Zach wrote for me. The first was never recorded and gorgeous- but this one made its way into the band. It’s a banger and is still so true after all these years.

Honey I Love You

This is the third love song Zach wrote for me and it has become his most popular song with over 3 million plays. I also dig Keb Mo playing on the track. It’s a real baby-making song - great for slow dancing and rocking out. I love when they play this live. It never gets old.

Enemy

A shift in tone, Zach wrote this for me after I was frustrated with family who disagreed with me politically the year Trump got elected. I don’t get very political here, but also, Trump is the worst.

Got Over

With over 7 million plays, this tune is a little creepy in retrospect. I walked to Trader Joes one morning and came back to Zach writing this song. He had imagined me getting hit by a car on my way and wrote a beautiful song about loss. We didn’t know that years later he would have to confront these feelings in real life.

Good Egg

I always called Zach a good egg, so he wrote a song about it.

Sonic Boom

I actually doubt this one is about me specifically but it was written in my family home in northern Virginia (I’ll always miss that house) - I just really like it and think you should listen to it.

Best Day

This song was inspired by the time I was pregnant and tripped, falling face and belly first on the pavement in a Starbucks parking lot. Luckily, the babe was fine and I just have a scar on my forehead. Starbucks remade my drink. Glad it was iced. Zach likes to say during his shows I fainted, but no, I’m just a klutz.

Be (For July)

A truly exquisite song written about the birth of July. Zach wrote about writing the song here:

Be (for July)

And Mister Steady

This song hasn’t been released yet, but it always makes me cry. I’m lucky I can be here to hear it. I featured a recording here:

Friday Feels- Singing through pain and healing

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Comment of the Week:

“I’ve read a few of your articles. Thanks so much for explaining what aHUS is - been diagnosed with it for almost two months and didn’t know exactly what it is! Your explaining definitely helps :)” Laura

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If you’re new here and wondering, “what happened to this lady?” read:

Welcome to my disease. What is atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (aHUS) or Complement-Mediated Thrombotic Microangiopathy (CM-TMA)?

I started writing this when I was on dialysis. It’s intended to be both memoir and a practical tool to help folks who might be going through something similar or those caregivers and family supporting someone with a challenging diagnosis. NOTE: This is not intended to replace actual medical guidance. Please consult your doctors on your individual challenges and situations. Please talk to your clinicians before adjusting any of your care protocols. Also names have been changed for most of my medical staff.

Thank you to CC Couchois, Roy Lenn, and Dr. Richard Burwick for your founding level donation.