Alexa and I were in our apartment in Thailand and I was strumming around on the cheap guitar I had bought at one of the malls nearby. I had the melody and the chords down for a song and I was searching for a phrase to match the tune, when I remembered a line I had written months before that was inspired by a picture I had taken of Alexa. The picture was of Alexa sitting at the stern of a ferry going from Phuket Thailand to Koh Phi Phi Island, and the line I wrote with the picture was... - 'that subtle line between the sea and the sky. She keeps me steady'. The line fit the melody so well that I had written a chorus and few verses in a matter of hours. Here are the inspirations behind the verses!
A well known trick when you're on a boat is to watch the horizon line to avoid getting seasick, the idea being that if your eyes have something steady to follow you are less likely to become dizzy. A lot of my time in Alaska was spent working on boats, I never got seasick to the point where I was was throwing up, but I came close to it enough times that I always had my eyes glued to the horizon.
The second bit of inspiration behind this song goes a bit deeper than seasickness. While the song refers to the physical sensation of finding balance at sea, it also speaks to the emotional balance that comes from the people who keep us steady day to day. Be it friends, family, romantic partners, or professionals - no matter the relationship - I believe these people are some of the most important parts to living a balanced life (my horizon is in the picture attached to this blog ;).
Thanks for reading! And be sure to thank those special people in your life for keeping you steady!
- David