Adam -

A lot of times when I start writing a song, I record the initial idea for it in my voice memos app. I’ll listen to it for at least a few days before developing it into a whole song. This song wasn’t like that, though. This song came out of nowhere! I don’t even have a voice memo of this song in the works. I was basically just creating and recording simultaneously, throwing all the ideas out there and letting the inspiration just guide the session.

The idea for this song began with just wanting to make a song that felt like sitting, being present, in something that would eventually become a great memory or maybe even a core memory. Super happy and peaceful mixed with a little bit of nostalgia and longing to stay in that moment.

Lyrically, I have been wanting to use the line “colorful and cold” in a song since before RJ and I met and started Northwest Stories. In fact, over the years I have written 3 different songs that I’ve titled Colorful and Cold but I’m not sure if any of them will ever be released haha. Finally, in “Moments,” I was able to slide “but it’s colorful when it gets colder.” So, close enough.

I love the first lyrics: “This we know, the seasons will change.” It’s way more poetic than I feel like we typically write in our songs. We really like to make sure that the lyrics in our songs are things we would actually say in our day to day lives, but that line almost has a Yoda style of speaking to it. I would never say that like that in real life haha.

The first verse, at least to me, is saying that life is always going to be throwing you curve balls. Things are going to change, things aren’t always going to be perfect. But that’s okay. Let’s try our best to recognize when we are in the good moments and be present in those moments, because sadly those moments will come to an end. But let’s fully appreciate them while they’re here.

The second verse is about how some things in our lives are going to try to complicate the good moments or distract us enough to not notice the good moments. But it’s all right here in front of us if we give some effort to notice. There is treasure all around if we look for it.

RJ:

It might sound weird to say that the lyrics to a song we've written have changed my perspective on life, but this one really has. When we write, we don't go in knowing what we want to say. It takes a lot of thought, discovery, and prayer. There are things we're just trying to figure out and settle in our own mind what we think about something, and when we write, the personal answers for me come in the shape of our finished songs. During the writing of this song, I just felt a lot of stress as a husband, parent, and provider. For me, it's hard to feel like I'm truly living up to where I want to be in all of these areas because my goals for myself in these areas are lofty.

So how has this song helped me? It's helped me realize that if I want to experience special moments every day I have the power to do that. Every day has treasure in it; we just have to want it, and we just have to look for it. It's a form of gratefulness, but it's more than that. It's literally looking for the treasure that every day brings. We don't need to wait for some future life moment to finally be able to "have everything we've ever wanted," because every day could bring a piece of something we've always wanted, even if it's small. After a week, month, or year of finding little treasure every day adds up to everything we've ever wanted.

However, one big thing I realized in writing this song is that it's vital to know what kind of treasure we should be looking for in order to find it. When I got married, I had dreams of how I wanted my marriage to be. Before I had kids, I had dreams of the kind of parent I wanted to be. The list goes on. All of those dreams and goals are all possible. I just have to keep them in the forefront of my mind and actively work towards it every day. I have to keep it in the forefront of my mind so much that it is like a chorus or refrain I am humming to myself over again, and as I do, I'll notice the every moment I've found gold.