Solsbury Hill

For this week’s blog, I need to take a break from talking about my book.

This past Wednesday, while driving to work, a song came on and I have to admit that I teared up. It’s not as bad as it sounds, though. In fact, it was quite affirming. Let me explain.

If you don’t know by now, I am going back into the classroom. For the past five years I have worked in hospice. In January of 2020, I walked away from 24 years of teaching high school English in Lexington, KY, to run a hospice here in South Carolina. During those five years, I worked with many families in this area and even wrote a book about those experiences. By May of 2025, it became very clear to me that it was time to move on and on June 2nd, I walked away from the past five years of my life. Two weeks later, I interviewed and was offered a job with the absolute best high school in this area.

The past few weeks have been about onboarding with the school district, attending New Teacher Orientation (feeling like Billy Madison sitting with the younger students), and then district PD, learning very quickly that things have really changed in the world of education especially in terms of technology. But learning all of the new stuff has been fun and exciting and I am ready to get started.

So what was up with the morning drive on Wednesday? Well, I was letting my Spotify DJ pick the music that morning. About halfway to the school, Peter Gabriel’s “Solsbury Hill” came on and it was perfect. If you don’t know, that song is about Gabriel leaving the band Genesis. He helped cofound the band in 1967 and finally left in 1975. Looking back, it makes complete sense. Both Gabriel and Genesis went on separately to even greater accomplishment and fame, but leaving terrified Gabriel at the time. 

“Solsbury Hill” tells the story of a man who climbs Solsbury Hill, sees an eagle, and has a spiritual experience. He hears a voice and with his heart beating furiously, the eagle finally speaks to him and says “Son, he said, Grab your things, I’ve come to take you home.” After the experience he resigns to keep quiet about it but realizes that he was “in a rut” and something had to change. By the end of the song, he finally states “You can keep my things, they’ve come to take me home.”

In the Billboard article “10 Reasons Peter Gabriel’s Solsbury Hill is One of the Greatest Songs of All Time,” the writer states “The story of “Solsbury Hill” — of personal epiphany, of hard decision-making, and of breaking free — was unsurprisingly interpreted to be inspired by Gabriel’s split from his old group, and the singer-songwriter has explained, “It’s about being prepared to lose what you have for what you might get, or what you are for what you might be. It’s about letting go.”

I’m dorky enough to have already known this and that’s why listening to that song made me emotional on that drive, but it didn’t stop there. At 9:30 am that day, we had Freshman and New student orientation. I met so many young students and their parents and both groups seemed terrified but I had the opportunity to smile, connect with them, make them feel better, and reassure them that everything will be alright. Teaching truly is a noble profession and I am honored to be part of it. 

Like Gabriel, coming back to this point was about hard decision making and letting go but when I walk onto that campus tomorrow, I won’t just be walking into a new school, and a new classroom, with new students to teach. No. I know exactly where I’ll be.

I’ll be back home. 

Billboard Article

Solsbury Hill New Blood Version