In the autumn of 2006, I became a college radio DJ at KSYM 90.1 FM. I played electronic music on Friday nights, 9-11 pm. Electronic Domination w/ The Dominator.

Things were going okay for me, but I was navigating severe drama. I was on the verge of breaking up with a long-term girlfriend, who had become physically, emotionally, financially, and everythingly abusive. I was picking up my first F’s in college, which I regret immensely but have learned from greatly. My brother was stealing and cooking meth amphetamine at my parents’ house, inviting over thieves and addicts. They would use heroin and leave dirty needles and burnt spoons around. I was recovering from surgery and tending to a wound vac for 6 weeks.

As the radio station’s sole electronic music DJ, I’d get first dibs at the mail labeled RPM, which was the chart code for electronic music. One day, the album Makeshift Feelgood by X-Press 2 came in the mail. The first track caught my attention; I’ve been fixated on it for 17 years.

The opening piano was warm. The horns were impulsive yet disciplined. The choir arose like a cold breeze in a warm sun. And the lyrics began, and Kurt Wagner sang directly to me. Then, suspense. And build. And suspense. And build. And 4 minutes in, the beat drops with the voices of angels, and all parts are playing together.

“I guess I should give it a little more time.”

I listen to this song whenever we get our first cold snaps in San Antonio. Let me rephrase. I don’t listen to this song. I crank up the volume with the windows open, and I yell the lyrics. I perform the song.

Even though I first heard this song during times that were not so good, it reminds me of the things I should feel grateful for, and it helps me look forward with optimism. Things aren’t so bad. Life’s disappointments are gifts in and of themselves. There could have been nothing rather than something. “Give it a little more time” doesn’t mean that time makes things better; it means that in time, we will come to see and feel our struggles in a different climate and learn to take the good with the bad—because the bad is also good.

I hope you enjoy the song and add it to your autumn playlist.