Ty Herndon’s “What Mattered Most” has always been an important song to me because it reminds me to pay attention to the important things in life. It’s become far too easy to get sidetracked and distracted by all of the time-consuming but meaningless things in our hectic crazy lives today. This is especially true with our relationships with those closest to us. They’re the ones we take the most advantage of because they’re the most forgiving. Still, they are the last ones that deserve so little respect or attention. It isn’t just about “Quality Time” but “Quantity Time” as well.
So, when you catch yourself on that treadmill of life again try to stop for a moment and catch your breath. Think about the people and things that matter the most in your life. If there’s a way to stop what you’re doing and spend more time with those people and doing those things then do it right then.
Anyway, I really like the ending of the song when Ty realizes the severity of his mistakes and painfully exclaims “Oh my God, what did I do!” Sometimes we learn our lessons the hard way and there’s nothing we can do to fix it. All we can do is learn from the experience and apply those lessons the rest of our lives.
What Mattered Most
I thought I knew the girl so well
If she was sad I couldn’t tell
I missed the point, I missed the signs
So if she’s gone the fault is mine
I know, I know a whole lot of little things
And even though I confess them one by one
She would still be gone
Her eyes are blue, her hair is long
In ’64 she was born in Baton Rouge
Her favorite song is "In My Life"
I memorized her every move
I knew her books, her car, her cloths
But I paid no attention to what mattered most
I never asked, she never said
And when she cried I turned my head
She dreamed her dreams behind closed doors
That made them easy to ignore
And I know, I know I missed the forest for the trees
And all I have to show oh when she walked out the door
The cold facts and nothing more
Her eyes are blue, her hair is long
In ’64 she was born in Baton Rouge
Her favorite song is "In My Life"
I memorized her every move
I knew her books, her car, her cloths
But I paid no attention to what mattered most
Her eyes are blue, her hair is long
In 64 she was born in Baton Rouge
Her father’s tall, her mother’s gone
She moved out west when she was two
The way she laughed, the way she loved
Oh my God what did I do