My husband always knows what to say to bring me back to the reality of what is truly important in my life! Thank you Dave for everything you do to make me have so much to be thankful for! You're the best!
3/10/2009 03:32:00 PM
Paul V. said...
David my friend, this is all so very true. I can tell you from my own experience how very important it is to just take a moment and enjoy your life and the lives of the people close to you. EVERYTHING can change in an instant and all you have left are the memories. Take the time to make good ones (and turn up the music).
Thanks for the comment and continueing support Paul. I know that you know, as much as anyone, the importance of counting one's blessings! I also saw the funny comment from Greg finding the CD..LOL Take care and we'll have to get together again soon.
Amen to that, David. At the end of her life, my mother taught me that this moment - this moment right now - is the most important one in the world. Alzheimer's teaches you to live in the present. I never regret for a minute making time to take time to enjoy that time together. Ironically, it's those memories - memories being something from the past - that I treasure most. The trick is finding a balance on the bridges between past, present, & future.
Another thing I was thinking relative to your post - the importance of music. It is amazing how people with Alzheimer's can still connect with music. My husband & I used to bring our guitars & harmonicas down to where my mother was staying and play for her & sometimes the other residents. They loved it. On her birthday, I played "When the Saints Come Marching In" on the harmonica and the residents got pretty rowdy, stomping & clapping! It was great! We played music for my mother while she was dying. It was a good thing to do.
I've heard of it - but no, haven't read it. Be Here Now was pretty much the mantra in the early 70s. Interesting that we are again rediscovering what the zen masters have taught for centuries.
I was watching an episode of one of my most favorite family television shows, “Home Improvement”, and as that show did on occasion, it would go though an event that the couple, Tim and Jill, was arguing about, only to compromise, understand and say they were sorry in the end. Then the show would end with them telling each other how much they loved each other...and dance together to a romantic song like, “When I Fall in Love”, sung by Nat King Cole. Being a musician, the first thing I thought of was that that song playing at that moment made that scene!!! Music does so much to heighten our emotions. What would the world be like without music and laughter?
This episode had a couple of older men who were friends of Tim Taylor (Tim Allen) and one of them, played perfectly by Ernest Borgnine, told Tim about appreciating each other and not to try to “understand” how each other acts all the time, but to just appreciate and love the moments that you have together, as one day they will be gone.
This episode just made me think about how we all face so many situations in our lives that we get caught up in, thinking about and worrying about. We think of our jobs and how can we become more successful in them. We think and worry about paying the bills, keeping the house clean, will our children do the right things in life, will we be able to enjoy retirement, you name it and we spend SO much of our lives worrying about these things. Currently, as I am trying to find a way to make my love of music the thing that I do from this point on in my life as a career and wonder if I will be able to earn enough income to keep our current home, I find that although I am totally enjoying each day working at my music, I still worry if it will provide for us.
Watching the older man talk about how he appreciates the time he had with his wife, who was now gone, it just made me realize how important each moment of our lives is and how we can NOT afford to waist a moment of it! The older we get, the more we realize how special each moment is and when you think about those “wonderful, special” moments with the ones we love....there is nothing else like that feeling and how blessed we are during those moments.
I guess what I am saying is... take some time each day and stop thinking about all of the crap that is going on inside your head. If you can possibly make it happen, get the person you are the closest to and tell them to stop for a moment with you and think about JUST BEING TOGETHER.... While you do that, don’t forget to play that music that is special to both of you. IT WILL MAKE IT ALL THE MORE SPECIAL!
I think about my mother who is 90 years old now and confused and living in a nursing home with only what memories she has left, if any, due to Alzheimer's Disease, and it makes me both sad and yet, so much more KNOWING that THIS moment, and those other moments when we stop and just be with the ones you love are the ONLY reasons for being here, whether it be with your spouse, your parent, your child or just a friend.
Take a few moments....TODAY....and a few EVERY DAY...and SMILE, ENJOY and REMEMBER!
8 Comments
Close this window Jump to comment formMy husband always knows what to say to bring me back to the reality of what is truly important in my life! Thank you Dave for everything you do to make me have so much to be thankful for! You're the best!
3/10/2009 03:32:00 PM
David my friend, this is all so very true. I can tell you from my own experience how very important it is to just take a moment and enjoy your life and the lives of the people close to you. EVERYTHING can change in an instant and all you have left are the memories. Take the time to make good ones (and turn up the music).
4/28/2009 07:21:00 PM
Thanks for the comment and continueing support Paul. I know that you know, as much as anyone, the importance of counting one's blessings! I also saw the funny comment from Greg finding the CD..LOL Take care and we'll have to get together again soon.
4/29/2009 08:07:00 AM
also...I hate when I forget to check my spelling first, especially on comments, as you can't change them...doh!
4/29/2009 08:08:00 AM
Amen to that, David. At the end of her life, my mother taught me that this moment - this moment right now - is the most important one in the world. Alzheimer's teaches you to live in the present. I never regret for a minute making time to take time to enjoy that time together. Ironically, it's those memories - memories being something from the past - that I treasure most. The trick is finding a balance on the bridges between past, present, & future.
4/29/2009 11:35:00 AM
Another thing I was thinking relative to your post - the importance of music. It is amazing how people with Alzheimer's can still connect with music. My husband & I used to bring our guitars & harmonicas down to where my mother was staying and play for her & sometimes the other residents. They loved it. On her birthday, I played "When the Saints Come Marching In" on the harmonica and the residents got pretty rowdy, stomping & clapping! It was great! We played music for my mother while she was dying. It was a good thing to do.
4/29/2009 11:41:00 AM
Sorry it took so long for me to see your comment Blythe. Have you read The Power of Now by Eckart Tolle?
5/17/2009 09:43:00 PM
I've heard of it - but no, haven't read it. Be Here Now was pretty much the mantra in the early 70s. Interesting that we are again rediscovering what the zen masters have taught for centuries.
5/17/2009 09:54:00 PM