“Music… will help dissolve your perplexities and purify your character and sensibilities, and in time of care and sorrow, will keep a fountain of joy alive in you.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
We were sitting around our living room last night and I asked if anyone wanted to write my post for today. I loved the topic and knew somewhere in my mind, in my heart there was a post. But tiredness, writing for 22 days and a wall were in my way.
I married into a musical family. My husband often recounts singing while he dad played the piano as favorite childhood memories. His dad played the organ for years at their church. It’s a cherished part of life.
So given that my in laws (Bob and Sue) are in town, visiting from South Carolina, I was sure someone in the room would take me up on the offer. No one jumped up and there was some joking…but after a pause Bob said “I have some thoughts for you…”
His mother had Alzheimers. While my husband and his brother were in high school, she lived with them for a couple of years before she moved to a nursing home. They told stories of what those years were like. Stories that would be familiar for any of you who have journeyed with a loved one down this road.
And then he said “I would go to visit my mom and she wouldn’t know who I was. But I would sit down and start playing the piano….and she knew.”
He and Sue went on to share how they would tape her favorite hymns. How the sound of the piano. How singing and the Apostles Creed. How all of that connected to a place deep in her that nothing else was able to reach. Memories evoked that lived hidden in her soul. An awakening to something known and loved.
I’m grateful for hitting a wall…for I can’t think of anything more beautiful than that. She knew.
I am participating in The Nester’s 31 Days of Series. Click right here to see all the amazing topics! I am writing on 31 Beauty Full Days. You can read the intro post here. And you can also always click on the button on the sidebar to see all posts in the series.
Melanie
Wonderful words, you are gifted. Your words touched my heart.
Bob
Bob
Thank you so much for sharing the story. I do wish I had met your mom. Someday.
Thanks too for always encouraging.
Wow, what a beautiful post. I love music, so much – nothing connects to my heart like lyrics and music, it’s always heart warming to know that many people also have that connection. To know that when there isn’t another way to communicate music is still there – beautiful.
Maxine
It is amazing how music reaches us in ways that other things can’t. Grateful for that!
What a beautiful post! I love that Bonhoeffer quote too!
Thank you Tara! I have been reflecting on that quote since posting this!
Gorgeous story. It made me think of this is an incredible story from the New Yorker I read a number of years ago about a man with extreme short term memory loss and how music was his lifeline to reality / memory, etc. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/09/24/the-abyss
Camille
Thanks for your encouragement. I skimmed the article and sounds like an amazing story. Grateful you shared it!
Oh, man. I think we’re all hitting a wall! But an artist is a person who knows where to go to find inspiration, and you sure found something beautiful to share here by adding questions. 🙂
Emily, your words meant a lot. I was struggling, with even having energy to think about writing. And yet once the story came, the words flowed. I now don’t feel so ‘bad’ about it 🙂
This is so true. I heard a great story about the power of music and how music therapy could/should be used in nursing homes to help the patients. Well, I was interested and here’s the link to the story. Very interesting! http://abcnews.go.com/Health/AlzheimersCommunity/alzheimers-disease-music-brings-patients-back-life/story?id=16117602
Christy
Thanks for sharing that link….it is amazing that music has the impact in so many lives.
That is such a great story. I am from a very musical family as well. Recently my sister in law’s father had a serious stroke and lost his ability to speak, but the part of his brain that perceives music is still functioning and he can use it as a tool for therapy. I also remember a story from a celebrity who was in a coma and the one thing he remembered when he woke up was a song his sister had played in the hospital while he was unconscious. Music is so powerful.
“Music is so powerful”
Yes, amazing how much so. Praying for your sister in laws father and his journey. Thank you for sharing how music is part of his therapy.