28

FOREVER 28 [Intro] Yeah... Some ages you grow out of. Some ages become a scar. Mine's twenty-eight. [Verse 1] I was twenty-eight when they told me she was gone, World kept spinning, but mine stopped moving on. I remember kissing Mom, trying not to break, Never knew that goodbye was the last one I'd make. Now I wake up older, but something ain't changed, Got years on my face, but I'm stuck in that age. Everybody says, “Time heals,” but maybe that's a lie, 'Cause I still talk to Mama when I'm looking at the sky. I got anger in my blood, got tears in my eyes, Got questions for God that I ask every night. Why'd you take my mama? Why'd you make me so strong? 'Cause I never asked for strength, I just wanted her home. [Chorus] I'm forever twenty-eight, Even though the years keep rolling. Got a heart full of pain That I don't let people see showing. My life split down the middle On the day my mama died. There's the man I was before her, And the man who stayed alive. I'm forever twenty-eight, Yeah, that number follows me. I got older every year, But she stopped aging in my memory. So if you wonder why I'm different, That's the year that changed my fate. I growing up without my mama... And I'm forever twenty-eight. [Verse 2] I learned how to smile when my heart was breaking, Learned how to say “I'm good” when my soul was shaking. Put the pain in a bottle, put the bottle on the shelf, Tried running from the grief, but I couldn't outrun myself. I got her voice in my head when I'm losing my way, Her love in my heart on the darkest of days. Sometimes I swear I feel her when the house gets still, Like she's telling me, “Baby, keep going, you will.” And Mom, if you can hear me wherever you are, I hope you know I still carry you inside my heart. I ain't always been perfect, I've made my mistakes, But losing you at twenty-eight changed everything. [Bridge] I would've traded every birthday For one more day with you. I'd give anything to hear “I'm proud of you” come through. Life gave me years without you, But it never took the love. You're still my mama down here, And I'll see you when I'm up above. [Final Chorus] I'm forever twenty-eight, That's the age my world broke. That's the year I lost my mama, That's the year my heart froze. Everybody else kept moving, I was drowning in the rain. I got older, but some part of me Never left that day. I'm forever twenty-eight, And maybe that's okay. 'Cause twenty-eight was the year I learned how deep love stays. So I'll carry you forever, Till they lay me in my grave. I'm older now, Mama... But I'm still your boy at twenty-eight.