The Last Months Of The Year…

We have been overcome with three years of problems, hoping they could be solved as we move forward into 2023. We follow the news though the likelihood of a better world still doesn’t appear on the horizon. We still seek to do our best with everything using positive attitudes. It sounds easy but we know by now that it takes every bit of energy and concern to rise up each morning and face the ongoing bad news.

The singing group I was with for ten years, had to face the virus situation in many ways. First the rules that had to be followed made rehearsals impossible. Then our accompanying pianist was faced with the necessity of a heart operation.

Some of the singers moved to other states to live with their children and though we stayed in touch and hoped all would grow well in the future, we have not been singing together for a long time.

There was a ray of sunshine when one of the homes we had sung for many times, paid attention to the hope expressed by leaders that we were recovering from the dreaded virus. With that in mind, I was called and asked if Company G would have a show at their place on December 2, 2021. That would be plenty of time to prepare (if we got someone to play piano… and if the remaining number of women agreed to perform.)

Once we said yes, every possible deterrent occurred. We had a show called Christmas Wishes that we reprinted and sent to each singer and planned to have rehearsals. None of the rehearsals occurred. We refused to cancel the show and kept checking ways we could handle it. Ultimately, with the pianist’s knowledge of music and words to the songs embedded in the memories of seven singers, from years of singing, we decided to call the show A Christmas Rehearsal.

The end result of our only Christmas show of the year was fantastic! All because we called it a rehearsal. The audience was three times greater than previous shows we had done there and they seemed as happy to have us as we were to be there.

After the show, we followed our usual habit and went out to dinner. On the way, it seemed the sky was overcome with a colorful rainbow and our hearts were calm and ready for notable changes. We thought that perhaps we should continue to rehearse the good times and get back on schedule ASAP. Though time takes its toll, and each of us went in a different direction. Now, we try to regather for an occasional lunch but our true lives together have become only memories.

By January of 2022, I had sold my home and the four children took care of almost everything to help me downsize.

Happy Thanksgiving and a very Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Kitty Maiden is a staff writer for Seniors Today.