music

every since i can remember russ has enjoyed music. he has told me that when he was young he used to play the saxophone. his older brother borg played the clarinet and they both learned to play each other's instrument but obviously not as well as their primary instrument. i can remember when i started band, russ offered his saxophone for me to play and i was amazed at how he could still play it after all those years.

russ also had a decent voice and would love to sing if he knew the lyrics. as recently as last year we both would love to stand next to each other in church to see who could sing louder on familiar hymns. at christmas time we would even harmonize on our favorites. now at church he will just hum along.

both my parents were good dancers and loved to dance. i can still remember having russ teach me some simple ballroom dance steps in our family room before i went to my first dance in junior high school. my mom use to teach dance at the junior college; ballroom and later, line dancing. i remember she use to tell me when she was introducing a new ballroom dance step that she would take russ with her to demonstrate.

russ loved the big band sounds and especially frank sinatra. he and my mother must have had every album frank ever made and went to many of his concerts. twice i took them to see frank sinatra when he sang in milwaukee as birthday or christmas presents. when bob and i got married, my cousin sang the song "more" at our wedding as it was my parents favorite sinatra song. the song i danced to with russ was "nancy with the laughing face" also by sinatra. when my niece was married 2 summers ago, they played it at their wedding. i asked russ to dance to it. we did but unfortunately he had no recollection of my name even then or that it held special significance to us.

russ also always enjoyed musicals. 4 years ago my nephew had the lead in the musical "the music man." russ has long since forgotten ryan's name but if i tell him "76 trombones" is on the phone, he will smile and start singing or humming the song.

the most dramatic recollection of music and russ was back in january when he had his first brain bleed. he was admitted to the hospital which proved to be a horrendous experience. after 24 hours i went home to try to get some sleep and get some things to take back to russ. my niece's were with him while i was gone and said he had had a very restless, agitated time. i quickly put in a frank sinatra tape and half way through the second song russ had his eyes closed and was resting quietly. i don't think my niece's and i will ever forget that drastic change in him.

even today when russ starts to get restless i can usually calm him down with music. our cable tv has music stations. either the big band channel or easy listening seems to do the trick. russ usually falls asleep each night listening to one of those two stations.

for the most part i now have to be satisfied just listening to music with russ. he is still on some days able to tell me when he recognizes a saxophone playing. other days i will ask him to dance with me and he will stand up and move his hands back and forth to the music while holding my hands.

but what has never left him and i hope never will is his foot tapping. he is forever tapping his feet to the music. sometimes only one foot but for the most part it is both, and always in rythym.

my friend at the alz. assoc. told me that rhythm, rhyme and music are the last to go. God willing i sure hope so.