Hi all
I’ve been writing funny stories about my 93+ -year-old mom for a while. She’s brilliant and kind and generous and loving and a week ago she had a stroke. It affected the speech and understanding parts of her brain.
She cannot say the words she wants, doesn’t understand most questions and commands, and speaks both Hebrew and English gibberish equally randomly.
But we are a singing family. I was brought up on union songs and folk songs. Two of my brothers are musicians and one cousin is an opera singer. Every family event for the last many many years ended with an hour of singing together.
I have my phone and a little speaker in the hospital and when I play our family playlist my mom smiles and sings along.
So we sing “Union Maid” and “Hallelujah.” Step by step, cognition and communication return. Step by step. More soon.