The other bits and pieces from 'the home'

[susandennis]

So, last week, we were in the dining room and Della Jo said 'you can look up stuff on your computer, can't you?' And I said 'sure!' What do you need to know? And Della Jo said 'I want the words to The Old Rugged Cross.' And I started... 'On a hill far away, stood and old rugged cross, an emblem of suffering and pain.....' I gave them three stanzas and they were pretty impressed.

And then they started throwing out hymn names to see what else I knew. I did pretty well. If it is an old Baptist hymn, or a recorded on a 45 during between 1955 and 1967, or on Broadway during those same years, I can pretty much give you all the verses. I cannot carry a tune in a bucket. But I do know the words.

When we were kids and used to take car trips, we sang. Daddy had a beautiful voice and Mom was good on harmony and I knew all the words. This got me the front seat because Daddy could ready my lips with one eye while keeping the other one on the road. We'd sing the standards - Casey Would Waltz with the Strawberry Blond, and Daisy, Daisy, Give Me Your Answer True, and camp songs - Do Your Ears Hang Low... And then we'd do the Baptist hymns and then we'd do Broadway and then we'd start all over again. The words have never left me. I keep them in a part of my brain that apparently I don't need for anything else.

The ladies at Mom's table were pretty darned impressed. Since I can't sing and we were at the dinner table, I only gave them the words. Laura said I was a Lyric Savant. I like that.

When Daddy retired, he and Mom moved to Charleston. They bonded instantly with their next door neighbors. Louise and Howard and Mom and Dad were all born in the same year and annually celebrated birthdays and holidays and Summer and whatever else they could find. They lived side by side for 10 years. Mom and Dad moved to 'the home' and then about a year later Louise and Howard did, too. Daddy died. Then last year Louise died. This morning, Howard died. I talked to Mom this afternoon and she said 'I'm the last one. Guess it's up to me to turn the lights out.'

Polly and Mom and I were talking about Howard on Saturday - Polly had just been over there with the hospice worker - Howard had spent Thanksgiving with his daughter and son and had come home early because he was just in too much pain. Polly said that there was nothing they could do but fill him with morphine and hope he didn't last long. She said that he was ready for what they call, over in the nursing wing, a celestial discharge. He got it today.

Comments

I'll fly away

[spiritgirl.livejournal.com]

Okay, after reaading about knowing those old Baptist hymns, and Howard passing on, the first thing that comes to mind is the hymn "I'll fly away". The song requires that you sing it with a strong souther twang, and it doesn't matter if you can sing or not.....

Some glad mornin' when this life is o'er,
I'll fly away.
To a home on God's celestial shore,
I'll fly away.
I'll fly away, oh glory, I'll fly away.
When I die, Hallelujah, by and by,
I'll fly away.

Re: I'll fly away

[susandennis]

Oh yeah... That's a good one.

[cathboblet.livejournal.com]

I'm a peculiar cross-generational specimen -- I sang semi-professionally back in England, and so I know all the songs you mentioned above from various concerts in various places.

My favorite incongruous choir moment was when we started rehearsing from a book called "Negro Spirituals." Imagine, if you will, 50 teenage women singing heart-breaking songs about the slave experience in their best prunes and prisms, English accents. It's the kind of thing that'll make your head hurt.

'turning out the lights' is such a down-to-earth, touching way to put it. Bless.

[susandennis]

Negro spirituals with British accents? That is good... Very good.

[fj.livejournal.com]

When you are in the throws of Alzheimers and can't even recognize a webcam much less know what to do with it, all you will mutter is hymnals and the Home you are in will think you are all spiritual and religious and Christian and get this incredible service for you when you pass on.

Mark my words

[susandennis]

Ohhh I hope that it's the hymns I remember to sing instead of the songs from Jaques Brel is Alive and Well or Leader of the Pack or Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Poka Dot Bikini...

And when they do give me the kind of service only the devout deserve, I do not want to hear you snickering in the back, you hear me now??!!

[pheon.livejournal.com]

Ah, that brings back memories! I spent a summer in Sicily in the early 60s and traded English lesons for Italian lessons with the sisters who lived next door. Their first request for translation was Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Poka Dot Bikini. Try that in rudimentary Italian!

[pinkrose70.livejournal.com]

Ha ha ha ha...Leader of the Pack!

Peppermint Twist, My Boyfriend's Back, Blue Velvet, To Sir With Love...

[jawnbc]

I continue to be infatuated with Mom. And her daughter.

[susandennis]

And I love that. Thank you.

Last One

[thalamic.livejournal.com]

Mom's comment floored me and brought a tear to my eye.

Re: Last One

[susandennis]

I actually had the very same reaction. I wonder if she's not starting to look for that light switch. Living, I think, is getting harder for her - physically and mentally.

All The Words

[shanynrose.livejournal.com]

Okay, I've got one for you. And I haven't been able to find it anywhere.

My grandma keeps asking me to look up these words, and she's 88. Somewhere between your Mom and Della Jo? Anyway, I haven't had any luck finding a song like this.

"Oh the concert in the park,
Where we met in the dark,
Our hearts would leap with bliss,
Each time we'd steal a kiss..."

And it ends with "D-A-R-K, D-A-R-K, D-A-R-K, Dark!"

Now you understand well, I'm sure, how the eightysomething memory works. My grandma said she mentioned the song at the Senior Center during one of her Wednesday lunches, and several people remembered it but nobody knew all the words nor the title. If you know what it is, please tell!
****
My dad and I sing in the car whenever we're together. In harmony. My sister and I, when we're colocated, sing *everywhere.* In harmony. If it's Stamps-Baxter, we know it. Actually, I ran into 50something gentleman on the set of "Grey's Anatomy" (coming out in the Spring, doctor show, set in Seattle!) who is a "Member of the Church," meaning he belongs to the same acapella denomination I grew up in. And guess what we did, there in the holding area between takes? Sang. Quietly. In harmony.

When my dad came out for his 40th high school reunion, my daughters said they were happy to see him - "Except for the singing part. Do you two HAVE to do that?" They still don't understand how we know All The Words.
*****
And "celestial discharge" is, imho, a beautiful way to think of passing. Thank you for sharing that. My grandma is in excellent health for her age, but every time she goes anywhere (she still drives!) she says "I'll be back at - Lord willing." I ask her why He wouldn't be willing, but she doesn't have an answer for that one.

I think I'll start posting "Grammy" stories the way you post "Mom" stories. She gave me a doozy today, which you'll probably see soon on my mom's (idajo's) friends page.

Re: All The Words

[susandennis]

You have Stumped the Chump! I have never heard of that song! Wow.

But, I am quite excited to hear about a doctor show set in Seattle!

[pinkrose70.livejournal.com]

Another talent you have Susan..Wow, I'm impressed. The only one that rang a bell for me was the "Daisy Daisy" song.

Then again, I grew up with Catholic hymns...and we didn't even have choirs...just mumbled lowly the hymns in the back of the Missal during mass.

And, I hope you're Mom's going to be around for as many more years as she can still enjoy!

Anyone that has that many miniature bottles stashed isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

;)

[katbyte.livejournal.com]

Brought a tear to my eye too.

My favorite, Set your fields on fire. An old blue grass hymn.