If all we really have are our memories, what happens when you no longer have any memories? Do you have nothing? No recollection or sense of yourself as a person? If music can spark a memory and make you have a sense of life and who you are, then isn’t music one of the most essential elements in the memory making process? Music is memories. Music makes you feel, it creates an energy, it sparks life and rhythm. I know this, I lived this.
I’ve seen, heard and felt the magic of music and what it did for Mama. She’d start singing a song if she didn’t want to answer a question or just to change the subject. She became alive with music and magically her essence was revitalized. She remembered words to songs that I couldn't remember if I tried. We always sang even at the oddest times... during blood transfusions, in the ambulance and during her first (and only) plane ride.
When Mama left this world Douglass and I had her favorite music playing, it was Judy Garland. I sang along as I held her hand. Music was her comfort zone and when she sang everyone around her felt good or smiled. We made sure Mama was in her comfort zone when she left us and of course it was on a high note from Judy.
