One Call Away

I’d heard the song several times over the previous month, but it didn’t really strike me until a few weeks ago.  The Friday before Teo joined Sienna at their elementary school’s summer program on August 1st, I heard the song while driving home and the melody grabbed me. After dinner, while playing on the floor in Teo’s room, I decided to figure out who sang the song.  A quick Google search brought me to this video.

One Call Away is by a young singer/songwriter named Charlie Puth.  I LOVE this song! The lyrics of the chorus are:

I’m only one call away

I’ll be there to save the day

Superman got nothing on me

I’m only one call away

Teo and I watched the video together and proceeded to hear the song a few more times on the radio over the weekend.

The first day of summer ESS was harder for Teo than I anticipated.  He was embarrassed when his field trip t-shirt was misplaced at the swimming pool and he had to collect it in front of the group.  When I picked the kids up that afternoon, he reported “I don’t like it here. It’s scary!”

Although he did dread going back and cried at drop off for the next few days, my heart was warmed when he told me: “They played your Superman song on the bus today.  It made me think of you and feel better.”

We’ve continued to search for One Call Away on the radio on a daily basis and added Charlie Puth to our Pandora station too.  This past Tuesday was Teo’s first day of kindergarten and the past few weeks have been full of growth and change for him.  This song has become an anthem for us to share.  I love that it references Superman, since Teo loves superheroes!  Also, the message that mommy is here to save the day touches my heart each time we sing it together.

This afternoon, while cleaning house and doing our regular Sunday prep for the week, One Call Away finally come on Pandora.  Teo and I shot into the living room and sang along.  He stood on the couch so we were eye-to-eye with one another.  Toward the end of the song, there’s a (I have no idea what you’d call this!) raising scale on the word “one”.  Teo has been working to hold longer notes while singing – More Than a Feeling by Boston is his typical practice song – so I knew what he was thinking when the scale started.  We locked eyes and did our best to belt out the notes.  In our living room with it’s gigantic ceiling, we had some good acoustics too. 🙂

Looking at Teo’s sweet face and mischievous little smirk as he sang these notes, my heart jumped into my throat.  I realized that this song would forever remind me of my son and the transition he made from preschool to kindergarten.  I cuddled him in a big hug and breathed in my little boy.  I cherish being here to make him feel safe, secure, and loved while he ventures out into the big world.

As I started to write this post at the patio table this evening, I played the video for inspiration.  Teo was in the living room watching a movie with Sienna and heard the song through the screen of the sliding glass door.  He ran to the door and started to open it.

“Do you want to come hear our song?” I asked.

“Yes!” he said, between bites of his fudge pop.

And we did.