"35 Years," by Volkert Volkersz, featuring a young Vincent Allis on harmonica

This song is about a marriage falling apart. It's not a happy song, but it is a sober song, and it attempts to find healing in a difficult situation. At the time I wrote this, I could not see that when "one door closes, another opens." I now tell people that the worst day of my life turned out to be the best day of my life.

I had forgotten about this song until yesterday when two things happened to trigger its memory. One was hearing the story of a guy who went through a divorce about the same time as mine. There were many parallels between his experience and mine. The second was when this song randomly showed up on my playlist while driving home just after hearing this guy's story. (I had not listened to this song in at least a decade.)

The harmonica player on this recording is Vincent Allis. As a high school student he took some harmonica lessons from me and within 6 weeks he was better than me. He was about 16 years old when we made this recording. He has gone on in adulthood to master the instrument and you can find other videos of him playing here on YouTube. He is also an excellent guitarist.

My writer's block ended in 2006, and I began writing songs to process the things I was going through. Many of these songs were performed at the open mic at Wired & Unplugged Coffeehouse in Snohomish, Washington. While this was an all-ages open mic, I would invariably encounter men who were going through breakups and ask to talk with me after my set. I like to think I helped a few guys during a difficult time simply by listening to what they were going through.

I did find peace, and I hope that those who may watch and listen will also find peace.

Volkert Volkersz
Dublin, New Hampshire
June 11, 2024