I started writing a song a couple of months back that came from a simple chorus of "I will cling, cling to Your hand, and I'll sing how I am safe, with You I am safe." I have ALOT of irrational fears....nuclear warfare, home invasion, zombie apocalypse, high speeds, flying....just to name a few. :o) The beauty of them is that for the most part they are irrational...I mean zombies?!?! And so no biggie. But sometimes....the irrational parallels with reality a bit too closely. We have had a dozen or so apartment robberies in the Fort Wayne area over the past week and a half. Most happened after dark, some involved guns, some just a purse snatch, and others a home invasion to take higher value items like televisions.
Now, I was born and raised in Northern Virginia. I know to be aware of where I am and who or what may be around me. I know to park in well lit areas and keep an eye out for things that look slightly off. I also lived in Northern Virginia during the "Beltway Sniper", when we all walked through parking lots zig zagging and I wasn't allowed to gas up the car. I was home from college on fall break, and the tension one felt when going out anywhere was thick and heavy.
So this rash of robberies just feels plain weird. I still feel safe here in my apartment, I know several of my neighbors, and I've always been observant as I've walked from the car to the building, or taken my trash out. My doors are always locked, I even lock my car when it is parked in a locked garage....I don't think I could change these habits if I wanted to. What I will not do, is alter my life dramatically. I will not purchase a gun or other weapon to carry. I will not live in fear of "what might happen." What I will do, is to continue living.
And so I finished the song "Safe",the other day. I don't know if it will ever make it into the setlist of a house concert, the beauty of songwriting is that it is an overflow of what I am feeling and experiencing. I needed to remind myself that regardless of the decisions of others, the bad ones and the good ones, I know to Whom I belong. NOTHING changes that. I am safe.
2018 Edit…. I was going back through the blog checking on a couple of links and realized how unfinished this post is…. Safe made its way on to my first album Coming Home to You and has more often than not been the opener of house concerts and shows.