Love Rescue Me

It's a beautiful, cool, crisp evening in Kansas City, the perfect night to go for a long leisurely walk with Oliver the wiener dog. I have about an hour and a half window from the time I take my new medicine with dinner until the low-lying queasiness that is with me throughout the day progresses to the full-blown, think I'm going to hurl stage. So the minute I swallowed my dinnertime handful of drugs, I grabbed Ollie and we headed to the trail. We walked our usual route and had turned to head home when it happened ... and no, I didn't crash into the tree again this evening. But before I tell you, let me say this ... I'm a nice person with a kind heart. Period.

Part of the route that Ollie and I walk each night involves us walking on a sidewalk that runs next to a two-lane road that is pretty heavily traveled. There are houses all along the street, and I've met several of the folks who live in them over the years as I've walked, first with J.R. and now with Ollie. I suppose because it's cool outside, the trail was pretty deserted and no one was out in their yards as I walked on the sidewalk with my little wiener dog this evening. We were about halfway to the place where the sidewalk picks back up with the trail when a car with four young men in it slowed down and pulled over close to the curb. I normally don't pay a lot of attention to the cars on the road, but tonight for some reason, I glanced up as the car slowed almost to a stop. I had forgotten to charge my iPod last night, so it had just died not two minutes before the car came along. And that meant I could hear every word the young men shouted at me ... and they were not nice words, friends ... they were not nice words at all. I didn't say anything in reply to the young men ... I just scooped Ollie (who was barking his crazy head off, though, defending my honor with all of his little wiener dog might) into my arms, lowered my head and kept walking. The young men finally drove on down the road, but not before they had hurled a couple of certain words at me that hit me as hard as if the young men had tossed bricks from their open car windows. 

It's probably not a coincidence that the last song that played in my ears before the iPod battery died was the shortened version of Love Rescue Me as performed by Playing for Change. Yes, I cried as Ollie and I made our way home, but I also found myself saying the words to the song out loud as the tears rolled down my cheeks. By the time I walked into my house, I was thinking of the people in my life who have chosen to continue to love me in spite of who I am. I'm not going to mention names because I'm tired, and my stomach is rolling, and I don't want to miss anyone ... you all know who you are. There are no words that can even begin to tell you how thankful I am for each one of you ... no way to convey to you how very much you mean to me. You have no idea how many times your love has rescued me ... carried me ... lifted me ... protected me ... comforted me ... encouraged me ... supported me ... challenged me. Every single day ... your love rescues me.

"Love rescue me
Come forth and speak to me 
Raise me up and don't let me fall 
No man is my enemy
My own hands imprison me 
Love rescue me
 
Many strangers have I met
On the road to my regret 
Many lost who seek to find themselves in me
They ask me to reveal 
The very thoughts they would conceal
Love rescue me
 
And the sun in the sky 
Makes a shadow of you and I 
Stretching out as the sun sinks in the sea 
I'm here without a name 
In the palace of my shame 
Said, love rescue me"