In his youth, my Dad was a drummer. During the Big Band era, he played drums in bars and dives where the band members were the only white faces in the joint. He was a fan of Tommy Dorsey, Gene Krupa and Duke Ellington, but has forgotten most of it. He is now 88, and content to sit in his barcalounger watching Wheel of Fortune all day. He's become slightly forgetful, and has lost interest in most things outside of his next bowl of ice cream and who won on Wheel.
"Dad, do you remember drumming?" "Did I?... Hmmm..." When we play the big band CDs my brother has made him, it's "You call that music????? Turn that racket off!!!" There's no music in his home anymore - he hates it. Complains every time. My Mom listens in her bedroom. Geeze Dad, what the heck happened to you????
Well, something DID happen last night. After finally moving to my town, (after years of my nagging), we took him to his first Thursday Night Concert in the Park of Fair Oaks Village, and plopped him down in a lawn chair... first one he has sat in in over 10 years. He was in his lamb-lined slippers and navy blue sweater, despite the 75 degree night. But at least he went. I warned him that if he didn't like it, he was to zip his lip, try to find something positive to say. And DON'T broadcast to the crowd about their questionable taste in music!
Then the music started. Sentimental Journey, Sway, Dad do you remember this? "Of course... that's Chatanooga Choo Choo... that's Sentimental Journey.... that's..." He knew them all. Blew me away.
I bought him an ice cream sunday. With nuts and whipped cream. I looked over at one point, and there he was bouncing in his chair, jiggling his sunday bowl to the rythym of the music of his life. He clapped at the end of each song... with a huge smile on his face.
Something had happened to perk up all those little synapses in his aging brain. Delving down the dark highway of thought, his memory found the on ramp to a past he had forgotten. "Sal, this is just terrific."
For me, it was pure joy.
For him it was a trip down Memory Lane.
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