Saturday, April 30, 2011

You Are My Sunshine


Today has been an interesting day. I am currently using my lunch break at work to let you all in on what I'm thinking. Cool, right? Ha. Well anyway, I've had a super rough week. I've been moody/irritable, as I've been trying to get everything done for school that I need to in order to finish up this semester. I haven't exactly been the most fun person to hang around, lately. My apologies to anyone I've encountered... :)

This morning helped to put things in perspective, and not really because of anything in particular. 
I'm working by myself today, so I did "music therapy" this morning, exercises and took some residents outside to get some fresh air. 

During "music therapy," I took out my folk harp and took requests for songs. One of the ones that I played was "You Are My Sunshine." It's a very simple song, so figuring it out on the harp was easy. Almost all of the residents in the room joined in and sang while I played. It was so moving. (at least for me) Everyone was out of tune and singing at different paces and different rhythms, but it was beautiful. 

When we went outside, we started singing the song again, a capella. There were about six of us, I think, and we just sang and sang and sang. Needless to say, "You Are My Sunshine" is going to be in my head  all day. 


This song has apparently been following me around for a while, because this poem is from last fall, written about last year. How interesting...

_______________________________


I had red hair at the time,
the kind you get from a box.
I painted my fingernails
in every color of the spectrum
because my mind was never made up.

Matilda had red hair, too,
but it was faded and unnatural
against her wrinkly, pale face.
Other than the wispy tufts of hair
there was no color, really.

Her room looked like every other room
in the nursing home. The black
and white photos on the wall
told a story of a time of youth
that starkly contrasted the burdened
form in front of me.

I happened to bring my violin
to work that day.

My bow swept the melody along,
almost as if I were singing the words.
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine…
I wish she could have sung along
with the tune I was playing.
...you make me happy when skies are gray.
Her toe moved, slightly.

I stopped playing and looked at her—
she was still.
You’ll never know, dear,
how much I love you. Her toe moved
in rhythm to the music.

She died shortly after
I left, and I was unable to stop singing
those words in my head.
Please don’t take my sunshine away.

_______________________________

Well, that's it for now. I'm trying to be more optimistic about these next few weeks. Life is good, right?
I hope that you're all having a nice Saturday. Please pardon my absence on here for a while... Maybe Amy will guest blog for me. ;)

Cheers.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

That is such a bittersweet song.

It's tough to transition into new areas of our lives especially when you have several options and opening one door may mean closing another. Or opening that door may postpone another. To semi quote Queen: We want it all, and we want it now. But life doesn't work that way. . .I hate that!

I'm praying for you as you weigh your options to make your decision.

Anonymous said...

i know how you feel about being irritable as the semester ends. i've been absolutely awful this whole week (mostly due to lack of sleep because clearly you cannot sleep when you have to relearn a whole semesters worth of material before your final exam...)

i'm glad to hear you are feeling a bit more optimistic, and that you are able to experience all the JOY that the elderly have with you. sounds like a great time was had by all :)

Heather said...

That poem is my favorite you've ever written.

Also, I would have paid 400 dollars to sit in on the singing of that song with the group of oldies and you. I am sure it was one of those things...The things of beauty you can never explain... when there's joy welling up in you and you might explode. I am in love with the idea of that scene.

Miss you.

amyschmamey said...

I'll think of something fun to blog for you. :). And. You are my sunshine :) ha. You will do fine and this stuff won't even phase in a few months. :). Loves.

Twells said...

Chills.

You can't beat moments like that.

Miss Kittoo said...

Sounds like a pretty amazing day. :o) I'm glad to hear that things are turning around for you. It sucks when our emotions get the best of us. :o\

Those are the times we have to hold onto....

Wendy Lady said...

Life is good, and you are awesome.

Take care of yourself and I hope you start feeling better soon!!

Mandy said...

How sweet! I love your stories from with your residents. And that's a lovely poem.