God showed up in today’s music therapy group through an 89 year old woman named Virginia. Virginia lives on the Alzheimer’s unit and is a relatively new resident.
Today we celebrated Independence Day in Music Therapy by having a patriotic “Name That Tune”. As residents sang and danced to patriotic music a magical occurrence began to take place…the inner spirits of those residents came to life.
As I played and hummed “God Bless America”, You’re A Grand Old Flag”, Yankee Doodle Boy” and many other songs we had dialogues about freedom and the gratitude felt for having those freedoms.
As I went around the circle it was Virginia’s turn to share. Despite her insistence that she is unable to sing she belted out each and every song in the game. When asked to share what freedom means to her and what freedoms she enjoys, her inner spirit shone through her smile. She shared her gratitude for freedom of speech and freedom to travel, but then she replied, “Oh I just love all people”. This began a God-inspired avalanche within the group that was amazing to watch.
Virginia shared how her mother had instilled the love of God and the love of people into her heart from the time of her childhood. You could see in her face that everyone meant something to her. But as she began to talk about the current state of the world, a sense of deep sadness came over her…but she persevered. The entire group was mesmerized as we watched and listened to her story. Despite her despair about the state of the world, her love and faith in God and her belief in a better life in heaven with her creator shone through.
By the end of her story most of the group members were in tears. When I looked around the room and asked why so many tears the response was unanimous…”they are good tears”.
We ended the session with a discussion about the freedom of individuality and choice to be who we want to be. And we sang “God Bless America”.
As I walked out of the session I could not help but have my own smile shining on my face. It was one of those magical moments I so much enjoy as a music therapist, where music brings connection and meaning and feeling.
July 7th, 2010 at 6:26 pm
Hi Kathy,
Lovely story! I just wanted to let you know that on your home page, the boxes on the right side (categories, blog roll, etc.) cut of some text for me. I don’t know whether that’s something to fix on your end or mine? It shows up correctly on the “Leave a Comment” page, thought.
Rachelle (@Rachelle881)
July 7th, 2010 at 6:29 pm
Thanks for sharing this special moment. They are the days that you treasure as a music therapist and hope that you have again (albeit in a different context and situation).