She's Losing It!!! My Mother That Is.

Yep, that's right, I'm picking on my 83 year old mother and telling the world that i think she may just be losing it.  Her mind, that is.  I told her its OK, she's allowed to forget a few things but she insist that she is losing it and so i feel no problem in announcing it.  Besides, I'm still smarting from being told off this morning for putting a very "unladylike" joke in my post last night (Noelle's Funny).  I said the S__T word and told a "toilet joke".  Goodness me, I'm almost 50!  And, it was a 70 year old that gave it to me.

You can tell by my defensiveness how things roll between us.  Still attached to my Mum's apron strings.  I thought they got cut off for a while but somewhere along the line they got reattached and i seem to need her approval now more than ever. 

I digress, which i am wont to do.  Maybe its catching!.

She was telling me about how her week was going and at first she said nothing much has happened but then half an hour later she is still telling me and i am laughing myself silly.  It certainly has been a mixed up week for her which is quite unusual.  She's as sharp as they come and very independent. 

Mum first thought she was in trouble when her son-in-law who happens to be the Pastor of her church asked her if she would play and sing at Church on Sunday.  That's not so unusual as she has been doing it all her life but it was a very specific song he wanted.  One that she wrote about 35 years ago to go with a series of sermons that were taught at that time.  He had memories of Mum singing this particular chorus (when he was a teenager making google eyes at my sister) and given that he is revisiting this series of sermons and starting this coming Sunday, he was hoping for a repeat performance.  Back then she was quite a prolific writer of choruses for praise and worship and i have too many memories to mention of her sitting at the old upright piano for hours with a pencil poked behind her ear, stopping every now and then to write a few notes, going over it again and again until it was just right.  I certainly knew them well by the time they were finished.   He handed her a song book with the words and music in it and Mum was completely blank.  She remembers the sermons but not the music, and she wrote them.  A day later and a bit of tinkering on the piano and she still wasn't remembering and Sunday was fast approaching. So she got out her old archived manuscripts (all handwritten in pencil) and there it/they were.  It was as clear as mud.  Once she could see her own words in her writing, in the right key and chords, it all made sense and she was off.  Someone had changed all the music when it was published. 

She called her best friend on Saturday (same age-group - my Sunday School teacher) to tell her that the old choruses were coming alive and asked her why she didn't call last night as she had news to tell.  Poor Aunty Laurel (yes i know, habits die hard) had to remind her that last night was Friday.  She has called Mum every Sunday night for about 20+ years.  Doh!  By now Mum is really starting to worry about her sanity.

I told her that these things happen as you get older.  She was only playing solitaire on her laptop at 3 in the morning.   I know she has trouble sleeping through the night and so to make herself tired again and to stop herself from thinking about everything she loses a few hours playing cards electronically.   Funny, i seem to remember having an online chat with Shelby in Ohio last night at 2.30am for that exact same reason.  Gosh Mum has alot to answer for.  Between not being able to sleep and the bunion that's warped my feet and we wont go into the "extra large" genes she passed along.  That's "genes" but the "jeans" are equally as large.

Anyway, she then proceeds to tell me another thing that happened in this week of nothing happening.  Mum plays piano at the residential home in the next town.  She drives herself over there and entertains the "oldies" she calls them, many of which are younger than her.  She has a song book of all the golden oldies and they sing along to Mum's soprano voice and I'm sure the upright piano is fairly rocking along to Moon River, Daisy, As Time goes By,  Blowing In The Wind, Don't Fence Me In  etc.

The other day she was given another song book that was old and tattered and hand written.  It was very hard to read but she said she would look through it for new material.  Some of them she knew and eventually she came across one she particularly loved - My Blue Heaven but got quite cross because whoever had written the book had only included the verses.  Apparently its the chorus that everyone loves and she wanted to play it.

 So what did she do, give up.  Not my Mum.   She spent an entire afternoon and evening tinkering until she could remember the whole thing and wrote it all out on a manuscript, in pencil, going back and forth like she use to until it was right.  Very pleased with herself but tired she went to bed with the song running through her head.  Up again at 5.30 am (as all real country women do) and went over to the piano to refresh her memory.  She took one look at the book she was given and turned the page.  What do you think was on the next page.  The rest of the song.  I cant imagine how she felt at the time but she was laughing at herself when she told me.  All that effort. 

An old upright - there are about 5 in the family  - Mine is from Chicago 1920's

Oh Well, i told her that all those musical neurons in her brain got a workout and that she probably would live a few more years.    I firmly believe that playing piano in your later years is an excellent brain exercise.  Both hands playing different keys whilst eye's focused on written notes and interpreting music.  I only wish it was as easy for me.  Oh, by the way.  She taught herself to play and write music.  Clever girl, my Mum.


Mum at the recent Flower Show in Melbourne - we made her use a chair and although she fought it, i think in the end she was comfortable. 

Love you Mum XX

Thank You for Visiting Living In The Land of Oz.