Although this song came out after the birth of my first son, it marks the end of 1999 the year –I became a father. I never truly imagined how my world would change. The love for a child surpasses unconditional; it reaches beyond anything you can imagine. Fatherhood brings a new kind of responsibility. You become a role model, you see the world through a new lens, and you strive to give your child a better life than your own. You strive to be a better man.
It finally dawned on me the depth of my parents’ love. Their devotion was not expressed in hugs or words, but through tireless work to provide a better life for my siblings and me –taking us away from Trinidad so we could achieve more. As a child, I often thought they were too strict, that they didn’t love me. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Their love exceeded anything I had ever imagined.
I rarely show my emotions, rarely let my tears flow. Yet in 2014, at a friend’s funeral for his 20-year-old son, the floodgates opened. I pictured myself in his place, and the tears came uncontrollably. I had never cried at a funeral, never been depleted by loss in this way. In that moment, I realized truly realized how deeply I love my children. I’m Your Angel has since become inseparable from that awakening, a song that captures the magnitude of a parent’s love and the lessons it brings.
