V E R S E

Nineteen summers barely on her, I was twenty-seven and lost

She walked in wearing bruises from a childhood that cost

Family said she wasn’t enough, said, “Son, aim higher than this”

But the first time she looked at me, I knew I’d never love like this

P R E - C H O R U S

We didn’t have much, just a townhome and a dream barely alive,

but she filled a cooler every morning just to keep my soul from dying

C H O R U S

She brought me a cooler full of love

Ice-cold Kool-Aid and a heart sent from above

In that steel-building hell where the devil turned the flame

She stood right there in the fire saying, “we’ll make it all the same.”

Lord, You saw every tear she never cried out loud

She brought me a cooler full of love when a hundred-ten was coming down

V E R S E

September sun was cruel, sweat stung like salt in ever wound

I begged her, “baby go back home,” she said, “I’m staying here with you.”

I saw the suffering in her eyes, but stronger than the pain

Was the promise that she whispered: “Love can stand the heat and rain.”

B R I D G E

So we left the only home she’d ever known

Palm trees for snow, West Palm for Rochester’s cold snow

She never once complained, just held my hand and said

“If you’re breathing beside me, that’s my beach instead.”

C H O R U S

She brought me a cooler full of love

Packed up Florida and trusted God above

Left her mama, left the ocean, gave me all she had to give

Just to keep this broke-down dreamer learning how to live

Lord, you wrote redemption in every mile we drove

She brought me a cooler full of love and carried me back home

V E R S E

Christmas came with empty pockets, but I fought a man for a toy

A little wind-up teddy bear that used to bring my baby joy

She cried like we won the lottery when I put it in her hands

Thirty-seven years later our daughter winds it up again

C H O R U S

She brought me a cooler full of love

Now she’s dancing with Jesus up in heaven above

I still hear that teddy playing the song she used to hum

Thy will be done, Thy will be done

Lord, You turned every trial to a testimony of

the sweetest, strongest, holiest cooler full of love

O U T R O

Kathryn, baby…thank you for the Kool-Aid

Thank you for the cross you carried so I could carry on

I’ll bring you a cooler full of love when I get home.