Childhood friends from N.S. unable to return for Christmas reconnect to create song

Childhood friends who lost touch for nearly 30 years have reconnected to create a song about missing Nova Scotia during the holidays.

"I had been feeling, definitely sad, that I did not get back in the summer to see everyone," Peter Harnish, who grew up in Mill Cove, N.S., said from his home in San Diego, Calif.

"I realized that I wasn't the only one that was going to feel that way … [and] that feeling was going to be really bad around the holidays."

Harnish is one of the many Nova Scotians unable to return home for the holidays because of COVID-19 travel restrictions.

When he realized this, he started writing song lyrics about how he was feeling.

"I was going for my runs in the morning and I came up with the lyrics for the song and I wanted to have someone sing it. And when it was in my head, I just kept kind of hearing Angie's voice," he said.

Angie Coombes grew up across the street from Harnish in Mill Cove. But when she was about seven years old, Coombes's family moved to Seabright, about 40 kilometres east of Mill Cove, and the friends lost touch.

Coombes has since moved to Calgary where she started working on her music career.

Although they hadn't spoken in nearly 30 years, Harnish took a chance and messaged her on Facebook this past September.

"As soon as he said, 'Do you want to do a song?' I was like, 'Absolutely,'" Coombes said, who also won't be returning home to Nova Scotia this month.

"I think there's that connection when you grow up with someone as kids, you never really forget that."

They immediately started catching up over video calls while also working on the song.

"We talked about what we wanted the song to really mean. We wanted it for our friends and our family, that was the main goal," Harnish said. 

"But we wanted anyone who could hear it to realize that they weren't alone."

The song, titled Cheers a Holiday, was released earlier this month.

Harnish said he was extremely grateful that Coombes was willing to bring the song to life.

"She transformed it into what I had pictured, what I had thought about, and the reason that the lyrics came to me and how I wanted to hear them," he said. 

"So it was emotional because it definitely pulled on the heartstrings the way that I wanted it to."

Coombes said it was cathartic to reconnect with Harnish who was missing home the same way she was. She said it made her feel less alone.

"It actually opened up a lot of emotions for me as well, because I think I kind of avoided really thinking about the holidays and what it would look like this year and that I might not get to see my parents," she said.

"So it was actually kind of a nice emotional gift to me as well, to even just sing the words of the song, because they just resonate so deeply. And I think they resonate with a lot of people." 

Harnish said he hopes the song does just that and reminds people that COVID-19 restrictions are only temporary.

"It's a different holiday, but together you can get through it. Reach out to friends, reach out to family. You may not be able to be in person, but you can still go on Zoom calls and FaceTime," he said. 

"You can still pick up a phone and just call someone that you haven't spoken to in a while. And there's a lot of people that need that right now."