Music is the Spice of Life

Sing a new song unto the Lord, sing it loud and clear on mountains high.
Sing a new song unto the Lord, singing Alleluia!

That verse came to mind this morning as I was thinking over our day yesterday. It was a quiet sort of day, maybe because of the rain. Paul went to therapy at Pathways, and as always, he did not remember where he was or why he was there. That part still makes me wonder about his amount of recovery and certainly affirms the fact that it will be a long, long row to hoe for Paul. We got home and he was not feeling very well, so he laid down on the couch for awhile. I fixed his lunch and he ate it all. Right after he finished, John and Justin came by. They work at DTSi and they came by to say hello to Paul, since John had not been in the office when Paul was there last week. They also wanted to show Paul the new car that Justin had to get after his own accident. I was shocked to hear about Justin's accident, and thank God he was not hurt. His other vehicle was totaled after another vehicle turned in front of him. I am a claims adjuster, and I have come to be so much more empathetic to those who have been injured, most especially when there are more serious injuries. Since it is so much more personal now, it will help me be more effective in this job. Anyway, to get back on track here..........John and Justin walked out to the car with Paul and he opened the front door and got in the passenger side. John said "it looks like we are going to be going for a ride with Paul!" They took Paul for a ride around the neighborhood and brought him back. He had not recognized them at first, but after asking Paul a few questions, John was able to help Paul remember their names and where he knew them from. They were both so wonderfully patient with Paul. The visits from friends always benefit Paul so much, and we are looking forward to seeing his friends come by for visits as often as they can. It helps Paul make more connections in his mind.

After they left, we sat on the front porch for a little bit, since it had stopped raining and Abby Dog wanted to chase after her bright new tennis balls that Aunt Kelly had bought for her right before they left. Paul threw the ball a couple of times, but then he just didn't feel well enough to continue. He went inside and laid down again and slept for a very long time. There are so many people with colds, so I let him sleep for as long as he needed. He stayed fairly lethargic through the evening, and did not want any dinner. Jon, Mike and I stayed with him in his room in the evening and we started to ask him questions about different topics. We asked him to name countries, gave him math problems to solve, music theory questions, spelling and word association questions. He answered about 70% of them and then I asked him if he could sing a few notes with me. We started with Do Re Mi and he sang it back, but very off key. We all started to laugh and he actually laughed out loud, which caused him to start coughing a little bit. He does not take in enough air in his diaphram to sustain any more than a couple of words when he does speak out loud, so laughing caused him to lose his breath more quickly. He kept smiling and his shoulders were shaking as he laughed softly. We sang the ABC song and he followed along, but didn't actually say the letters out loud. We stopped just a few notes before the end, so he could finish it out loud by himself. He did only the last 2 and we told him what a great job he had done with his singing lesson. It left us all so happy and the moment will be relived in my mind for a long time. We will continue to work with Paul with these kinds of things, so that he can have mini therapy sessions throughout his day. He was in Chorus in high school and also at GA State University and he liked to sing. He was not pursuing singing, but it was required for his music degree. I am excited about getting him to sing more, as it will really help him project his voice, since he will be required to take in more air to accomplish it.

I have heard it said that when you sing, you pray twice. Last night brought the joy and peace that prayer always does for me and I fell asleep smiling, as I remembered Paul's face after he sang for the first time.

Angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing ore the plains.
And the mountains in reply, echoing their soft refrain.

Paul, my angel, was heard on high!

May the voice of your guardian angel sing softly in your heart today, leading you to God's will.
Love,
Jon and Rebecca