Memories are a good thing.....

Friday morning....August 9, 2013  muggy muggy....it must be Summer?

Yesterday morning I went to the Infusion Center.  Last week I showed up there on Thursday instead of Monday and the Nurses begged me to come back this week on Thursday instead.  So no promises, but I did switch my schedule to accommodate them...my pleasure.  When I walked in they all started clapping....they crack me up...."Yay...we got our Harpist".  I love this side of Infusion, it's the large open room with cubbies and everyone can not only hear, but interact as a family.  These Nurses are so wonderful and thoughtful to the Patients.

As I was playing "Moon River" a Patient was walking past me and stopped and told me his Wife had passed a couple years ago and that was "their" song.  So I stopped and told him I would play another selection and he said, "oh no....keep playing, any chance to remember my wife is good, I still love that song".  ok...choke choke  We have no idea how much impact we can have in someone's life.  A simple, well loved tune provides a beautiful memory of a lost loved one.

There were 2 Oncology Doctors that stopped to thank me...they were both singing, LOL  And speaking of singing....the Nurses all sing.  This is part of the reason my selections are so similar to those in Assisted Living.  We all like tunes that we heard as children, "Twinkle Twinkle" to the Beatles, "And I Love Her" to the classics, "Moon River" to "Bridge Over Troubled Water".  There is so much calm and peace that falls over this normally manic environment.  This peacefulness  not only effects the Patients, Nurses and Doctors.....but even the Staff delivering Food and Drink to the Patients....they linger a little longer in the Unit and sing along.

After 1 1/2 hrs....my fingers tell me it's time to go so I started packing up and a couple of the Nurses said, "what??  you are not leaving, you just got here"  to which I replied, "there is blood on my strings" (just kidding) and I hear from behind the desk..."that's OK, we have lots of Bandaids...sit down"  As I am packing up my Harp, I try to hit each cubby and say goodbye to the Patients.  Every one of them were totally relaxed...that magic Harp had done it again....I guess Thursday is my new schedule, lol