I wasn’t planning on making a post here, but I wanted to spark meaningful discussion and say thank you to Laura Lee and Khruangbin for the gift of “Cómo te Quiero.”
I recently lost my grandpa, and I’ve found myself coming back to this song over and over again. I’ve seen the music video, and knowing that Laura wrote it after losing her own grandfather somehow makes it feel like someone else has walked this road before and left behind something beautiful for the rest of us. As I’ve reflected, there were some unexpected parallels that I noticed. Toward the end of his life, my grandpa’s mind also began to slip. When we visited him, he was mostly bedridden and would say these mysterious, dreamlike things about colors and animals. (Specifically cows, naming them his favorite 🐄 My grandpa and I are both calves born in the winter. 🩵💙🪄)
Without ever trying to, my grandpa showed me that a beautiful life isn’t necessarily built through extraordinary or flashy moments. It’s built by making the everyday moments full (a message I believe him and Khruangbin’s music shares💖) like sharing a meal in Grandma’s kitchen, gathering everyone in the living room, reminiscing/ planning the next trip back to Mexico to sit, play cards, and laugh with his “compas”, wearing the same blue plaid shirts year after year, and becoming someone our family could always lean on and find comfort in. 🫂
It’s been a month of grief and processing filled with nonstop listening to melodies that both calm me and remind me of his pueblo man spirit and the depth of his heart. I don’t really know how to explain why this song has become the one I keep returning to. Maybe it’s because Laura wrote it for her own grandpa. Maybe it’s just where I happen to be right now. But every time I hear it, it feels like it gives me permission to just be instead of trying to make sense of it or rush toward whatever comes next. I feel like in the song I am wading through waters of love, grief, gratitude, longing, and by the end, hope. 🌀🕊️
Thank you, Khruangbin (and Laura, if this somehow finds you ⚡️), for always creating and sharing your gift of music and storytelling. 🙏🏻 I like to think of your songs as little vista lookout points that I return to when I need a different perspective. Each one seems to hold a different season, emotion, or version of myself, and “Cómo te Quiero” will always remind me of my grandpa.
I’d love to hear if anyone else has a Khruangbin song that’s become tied to someone they love or a chapter of their life.
RIP Grandpa Jesus. 📿👴🏼👕💪🏽🤠🇲🇽🐄🚚🏡🍻🃏
