MUSIC and READING #2

Singing in our Sharer's Sunday School Class

I wrote a post on January 10th, 2009, titled Music and Reading...I've changed it to fit today.....sigh.....this is the way it is today.

Studies have shown that listening to the 'right type' of music is good for the brain, and we know that it can be calming for the nerves, good for the soul, and also helps us to reflect on memories past.

I never thought we'd own an I Pod, but we do,  I love it!    I've downloaded all types of our favorite music that we've enjoyed over the past 50 years.  I  bought plug in speakers for outside and throughout the house.   When I dock the I Pod into our main speaker, we have beautiful music playing throughout the house and outside.

When the house is quiet, David seems withdrawn, and when I turn on  music, he perks up.    David has always loved music, and he enjoys listening to all the different varieties of music.

I wish I had captured a picture of David on a recent evening .  I was in our pool with friends; we looked at David sitting on the patio; he was listening to music, I think it was Stevie Nicks (he loves her music!)  he was singing and directing the music with his hands......a sweet sight. 

  Our daughter loved David's voice,  and she'd try to encourage him to join the choir.   To our delight, when his work load decreased, he made the time to join our church choir. 

The choir was a very important part of his life for 10 years. The choir members were like family.  It was  so sweet, touching and sad..... for me to see the men in the choir help David as it became harder for him to find the pages in the  song book.  

David no longer sings in the choir.......when a song has more than one verse, he's confused and can't follow the lines.

David and our grandson singing a song after playing army men a few years ago.

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David has always been an avid reader!  I'm thankful that he still

'spends time' with reading material.   Now ... he reads aloud ..... and he repeats the same words over and over.   I doubt  he understands what he's reading,    but he's trying to make sense of what he's reading by repeating the words over and over. 

Last week was his last week to go to his weekly/noon Rotary meeting.   It's not fair to have others take the responsibility of him.  Another door closing,  but .....we'll do something special on Rotary days, like going to Olive Garden.

As the hot, dog days of summer come to an end, and fall arrives, we won't be getting into the pool in the afternoon.  The pool has been a wonderful 'time filler' for us.   We'll be getting our walking shoes warmed up, to start walking, but we'd rather swim.

This is one of my favorite pictures of David.   I hope next year he can still enjoy the pool.

 

David can't write or draw,  he can't use remote controls or anything mechanical,  he can't answer the telephone, he can't add 1 + 1, but...... for now, he tries to read, he sweeps, he sings, he loves to go for rides in the car with our dog, he loves to eat, he sometimes reminds me of things I forget, he lets the dog in and out of the house and walks her around our little block.   He still has his good manners and sweet attitude most of the time.  I say pooh on a test score of #5!
I'll take the things he 'can do' over the things he 'can't' do any day....and I say, "thank you God."