Will you get better?

“What am I supposed to do if there's no you?”

I’ve been listening to old and new music on our travels in 2026. Classical songs (“Adagio for Strings, Op. 11a,” “Chariots of Fire-Main Theme,” and Turandot’s “Nessun Dorma!”), Christian artists (Sons of Sunday and Cece Winans), and female pop icons and newcomers (Taylor Swift and Sienna Spiro) are a few of the songs and artists that have caught my ear. Music always finds a way to break through the chatter and center me. Even on vacation, I find a way to include this music “therapy” in my life.

I was thrilled to see beautiful Australia and New Zealand on our bucket-list trip this past month. The Sydney Opera House was breathtaking!

Upon hearing one of Taylor Swift’s older songs and rereading a previous blog post of mine this week, I paused to reflect on my caregiving journey. The day it was released to the public, my husband sent me a text saying, “You need to listen to this song right now.” He knew the profound effect it would have on me. The song, “Soon You’ll Get Better,” melted me that day, and I still rehearse the lyrics in my heart as I remember my Robert.

My understanding is that this song was written about Taylor’s mom, and I had lost my own a few years earlier. My mom had not suffered from any ongoing medical condition that caused me to think of her when I first heard this song. Her passing was a sudden and life-altering occurrence for our family, but she was not the first loved one to come to my mind upon hearing it. Perhaps it is a reflection of how beautiful her life was with very little physical suffering that made me place her in a box of gratitude, rather than one of overwhelming caregiving or extensive pain.

For some reason, however, this song caused me to become overwhelmed with grief for myself and every person I know who has experienced these words of hope (and loss of hope). I gathered my weeping self and texted our daughter who is blessed to be a Background Vocalist for Taylor Swift, telling her that I was adopting this song as the anthem for caregivers holding someone’s life in their arms.

These brilliant and poignantly visual lyrics cut into me deeply. The “holy orange bottles” were just like Robert’s 30-40 medicine bottles that lined an entire section of cabinets and drawers in our kitchen.

“Holy orange bottles, each night I pray to you.

Desperate people find faith, so now I pray to Jesus too.”

And now, I come to this painfully familiar question, “Will you get better?” It is the question that lingers everyday, whether spoken or hidden closely in a caregiver’s heart. I do not know whom you hope will get better. I will not pretend that my life or yours is void of these questions. It is just reality. All of us will ask this question in our lifetime, and some of us will know the answer before we even dare to ask it.

Keep this song on repeat on the days when you don’t get an answer to this question, or when you sadly already know the answer. The pure beauty of the music can get you through the hours, my friend.

Listening Library: “Soon You’ll Get Better” (Taylor Swift)

Soon You’ll Get Better

The buttons of my coat were tangled in my hair

In doctor's-office-lighting, I didn't tell you I was scared

That was the first time we were there

Holy orange bottles, each night I pray to you

Desperate people find faith, so now I pray to Jesus too

And I say to you

Ooh-ah, soon you'll get better

Ooh-ah, soon you'll get better

Ooh-ah, you'll get better soon'

Cause you have to

I know delusion when I see it in the mirror

You like the nicer nurses, you make the best of a bad deal

I just pretend it isn't real

I'll paint the kitchen neon, I'll brighten up the sky

I know I'll never get it, there's not a day that I won't try

And I'll say to you

Ooh-ah, soon you'll get better

Ooh-ah, soon you'll get better

Ooh-ah, you'll get better soon

'Cause you have to

And I hate to make this all about me

But who am I supposed to talk to?

What am I supposed to doIf there's no you?

This won't go back to normal, if it ever was

It's been years of hoping, and I keep saying it because

'Cause I have to

Ooh-ah, you'll get better

Ooh-ah, soon you'll get better

Ooh-ah, you'll get better soon

Ooh-ah, soon you'll get better

Ooh-ah, soon you'll get better

Ooh-ah, you'll get better soon

Songwriters: Jack Antonoff, Taylor Swift

Soon You'll Get Better lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC