“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.”
—T.S. Eliot
My good friend Andrea and her son Justis brought their gift of music to bless Vernon this morning. We found him ready for company with eyes wide open (always a plus!) When he began to fade out, I bribed him with a contraband cup of thickened orange juice, smuggled from the kitchen. He mostly kept to his end of the deal after that and stayed as present with us as he could.
Here is the insanely talented Justis…who also happens to be Maki’s guitar teacher for the past two years.
They played a number of songs to the joy of both Joe and Vernon. Both men loved hearing Andrea’s beautiful voice, but Vernon made it very clear when he wasn’t in favor of a song. It was pretty funny because the old Vernon would never be so blatantly honest, but why not? They were there for him.
When he did like a song, however, he joined right in. Here is a sample of what could easily be Vernon’s theme song for his current situation.
But in this video, Vernon really gets involved. I told you he was finding his voice.
Then Justis played guitar while I got close to Vernon’s face to sing one of my favorite Billy Holiday songs, Lover Man (not nearly as well as she sang it, obviously.) It was a special experience for me to watch him so overcome with emotion as I sang to him. His eyes filled with tears and he kept saying: “It’s so beautiful. It hurts to hear it.” Bittersweet for both of us.
Music continues to draw him out of his cage.
And just for fun…