Today in the Life of Aimee Claire...

Today in the Life of Aimee Claire…

            Today in the life of Aimee Claire, I went to sing at the Old Jefferson Community Care Center with the EHS cross country team.  Coach Cole does this about once a week at different old folk’s homes, and sometimes he invites the team to go with him.  He plays the guitar, and we sing along with him.  None of us are particularly good singers, and we don’t know most of the songs, but we all laugh while we sing, and we make the residents smile.  We sing all different kinds of songs:  songs from long ago that the elderly know, like “Shine On Harvest Moon,” “You are my Sunshine” and “Bicycle Built for Two”; religious songs like “How Great Thou Art,” and “Amazing Grace,”; and songs that we know like “God Bless America,” “You are My Sunshine,” and “Hey, Fightin’ Tigers.”  There are different types of people there, and they all have different reactions to our singing.  Most are in wheelchairs or on walkers.  Some have family members with them, and others are alone. Some smile and sing along, others shout out, some just sit there and listen, and some don’t seem to know where they are.  Usually they smile while we sing and clap when we finish each song.  Today, one lady got mad at Coach Cole for going out of order in the songbook and yelled at him! It’s always a fun afternoon for us to get together, and it’s a good team building activity, but I think there is a more important reason for us to go.

Sometimes young people like me get so involved in our own lives, studying for tests, practicing for various athletic teams, and hanging out with our friends, that we can forget that it is important to give something back to the community.  When I go to the Community Center and see that we have made these people happy for a little while, it gives me a warm and happy feeling inside.  I personally know how important it is to bring a little joy to elderly people because I have experienced it with my grandfather, Bobo.  Six years ago, he had a stroke, and he lived in NeuroMedical Center for a while.  He had to learn to talk and walk again, and it was very difficult for him because his mind was good, but it couldn’t make his body work.  I remember how much joy young people brought to him, even those that he didn’t know.  One of the things that he loved doing was going to physical therapy.  It was very hard and painful for him, but being around young, energetic, enthusiastic people always made him smile, and he would talk about these people often.  A sing along with young people like we did today would have been the highlight of his day and brought him a little bit of joy in what was really a very difficult and frustrating situation.  He died two years ago, but every time I go with Coach Cole, I think of how happy it would have made him, and I know that we have done a good thing.