For forty years we said, "Next year,"
and watched the seasons slide.
We kept the good life in a drawer
and never looked inside.
There was always one more reason,
always one more thing to do,
and the chairs just kept on waitin'
like the good Lord meant 'em to.
Then one ordinary afternoon,
for reasons neither knew,
we brought 'em home and set 'em down...
and life came into view.
We finally bought the good chairs,
and set 'em facin' west.
Sat down in an ordinary evenin'
just like all the rest.
Same sun, same tired water,
same as every year—
we just quit waitin' on our lives
and finally settled here.
We finally bought the good chairs...
Lord, what were we waitin' for?
She takes the chair beside me.
We don't say much at all.
We watch the same old water,
watch the same slow evenin' fall.
The tag's still on the armrest—
we sat before we pulled it free.
We'd waited forty years to sit;
we weren't about to wait and see.
This ain't a finer sunset
than the ones we let go by...
We just finally stopped to watch one,
her and me beneath the sky.
We finally bought the good chairs,
and set 'em facin' west.
Sat down in an ordinary evenin'
just like all the rest.
Same sun, same tired water,
same as every year—
we just quit waitin' on our lives
and finally settled here.
We finally bought the good chairs...
Lord, what were we waitin' for?
We spent our whole lives savin'
for a someday down the road,
a finer place to get to
once we'd set aside the load.
Turns out the life we waited for
was here the whole way through—
it was her,
it was the evenin',
and a chair with nothin' to prove.
We finally bought the good chairs,
and set 'em facin' west.
Sat down in an ordinary evenin'
just like all the rest.
Same sun, same tired water,
same as every year—
we just quit waitin' on our lives
and finally settled here.
We finally bought the good chairs...
and finally sat down
in the life we'd been savin' for.
The tag's still on the armrest...
The day's done settlin' free...
Funny how we waited so long...
With nowhere else to be.