When The Smoke Clears

Why the impetus behind the lyrics of the song for the Okanagan community: "When The Smoke Clears."

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(Written an produced by Dan Whitney, Evacuee Summerland BC)

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Wildfire brings fear, uncertainty and the painful question: What will be left when we return? I wanted to give voice to those feelings. But I also wanted to recognize what we are given in the middle of the uncertainty. The key message in the song is "Maybe home is more than walls - more than what we left behind. It's every heart that held us when we couldn't stand alone."

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WHAT THIS MEANS TO ME.

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We tend to think of home as the house, the walls an everything inside it. But when those things are threatened, we discover home can be much bigger than a building. Home can be the people who take you in. The stranger who brings food. The neighbor who checks on you. The person who simply says, "I'm here." It's every heart that holds us when we can't stand alone.

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THE MESSAGE FOR EVERYONE.

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"Don't let fear make you overlook love." Look around. Notice who's showing up. Notice the kindness. Notice the little things getting us through. We are not alone.

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I think sometimes when we are facing a crisis, we become so focused on what we might lose that we overlook what we are being given. And that's what that lyric means to me.

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