The Song Remembers When

You hear the notes. The vocals. The beat.

And the memories start to creep into your mind.

As you approach the bridge and the chords, harmony and notes converge, the images from the past become clearer and clearer - fully emerging you into a river of memories.

Some that you need to remember. Some that you want. And some you really want to forget.

It's the power of a song.

Lil Bit has always loved music. I can remember music being a big part of our lives as I was growing up.

Every type of music...classical, country, gospel, broadway shows, rock ... we listened to it all. Momma wanted me to experience them all to decide what I liked.

And now in the autumn of her life music continues to play a large part. And loud part. Really loud part. Like REALLY LOUD.

I will walk into the house in the morning and she will have Alexa playing Mumford & Sons, Dolly Parton, Elvis or African American Spirituals shaking the rafters while her television cracks the ceiling with its own symphony of sound. What can I say? The old lady has good taste in music and likes to rock out.

A song will play and sometimes a bit of magic happens. As the notes rise they will unlock a memory from Lil Bit's clouded mind. Each song brings a story of her life.

She will sing along for a bit and you can see her light up as she remembers times gone by - stories about county fairs where she won blue ribbons with her Hereford steers, church with her parents and little Lil Bit singing in the choir to their joy, patients saved and patients lost, heartaches of those long gone like her baby sister who was the embodiment of Sinatra's My Way, road trips with a car full of kids to the mountains or the lake (that invariably went wrong, really wrong), heartaches and moments of pure joy, it all pours out.

Then the notes fade, her memories fade.

And you wish the music would never end.