Craig Morgan on Coping After Loss of Son, Jerry: 'I Have Him With Me, in My Presence'
It's been more than three years since Craig Morgan and his wife, Karen, lost their oldest son, [...]
It's been more than three years since Craig Morgan and his wife, Karen, lost their oldest son, Jerry, in a drowning accident. Morgan stayed mostly silent on the tragedy since Jerry's death, until releasing his poignant song, "The Father, My Son and the Holy Ghost," earlier this year. The song landed at the top of the charts, thanks in part to the help of Morgan's good friend, Blake Shelton, and some of his famous friends, including Kelly Clarkson, Carson Daly, Ellen DeGeneres and more.
For Morgan, the song has helped others heal, but his pain is still just as real and as raw as the day he found out Jerry passed away. Instead of helping him get over the pain, Morgan has found "The Father, My Son and the Holy Ghost" is helping articulate the grief he imagines he will always feel.
"'The story is so true," Morgan told CMT. "When I do have my coffee out at the house and I can see – we have a family cemetery and I have him with me, in my presence … My son is there with me. He's there. I don't physically get to touch him and hug him like I do my other children, but his heart and his love — I feel that and that's where that came from.
"It's a bit of a play on the words, and to justify my son being a part there with me," he added. "He is in Heaven. I know that. I'm confident in where he's at and I'll see him again."
Morgan acknowledges nothing in his life is the same since Jerry's death, including his marriage.
"As tough as it is for me, I know it's that tough and even more so for my wife," admitted the singer. "So it's really difficult. Even now, if you have a moment of joy for some reason you feel guilty. For a year I couldn't even hardly kiss my wife and not feel uncomfortable, because that's a joyous moment when you share that with your partner.
"You feel guilty, and she would cry, so it was really tough to figure out how to how to maneuver through all these emotions," he continued. "But one morning, about 3:30 in the morning, I woke up literally singing that chorus in my head and I remember sitting up on the edge of the bed thinking, 'I need to write this down or I'll forget it. And it feels like it's important.'"
Download "The Father, My Son and the Holy Ghost" at CraigMorgan.com.
Photo Credit: Getty / Al Pereira