"The Last Sounds She Heard" a true story from my experiences playing music for Nursing homes

In 2013, I was playing at ‘The Montclair’ in Decatur Ga.
This is directly across the street from the VA Hosp.
It is a more upscale sort of nursing home/ memory care facility.

I had been playing there almost monthly for about a year when,
A woman whose birth/native language was Spanish came to live there.
She had married a diplomat and traveled a lot,
But she never learned a lot of English.

I only knew the one song that had any Spanish:
"Lo Siento Mi Vida" by Linda Ronstadt
(I posted a video of me doing this song on YouTube)
It is 2/3 Spanish.

I scouted around, and found a "Jose Feliciano" song:
"Cuando Pienso en ti" (when I think of you)...
I bought the midi, practiced and practiced to
Get the pronunciations correct.

Then, the next time I went there to perform,
I sang it for her.
She was thrilled and so were the others, even though
They couldn't understand the words, they loved the song.

After about 3 months of playing a variety of songs,
Including the Spanish songs, I came in one day and the
Spanish lady wasn’t there.

I was told that she was fading fast, and that her
Daughter and her friend were in the room with her.
They told the daughter I was there, and she asked me if
I would come and sing the song for her Mom.

I placed my PA Speakers in the hallway as
Close to her room as I could, and I went in and
Stood at the foot of her bed, and sang this love song to her.
Her daughter and friend were in tears
(so was I, just like I was while writing this).

The Mother seemed to calm a bit while I was singing.

When I finished the song, I went back down and
Finished my set for the rest of the Residents.

As I was packing up, they told me that the Spanish Lady
Died about 20 minutes after I finished singing to her.
My song of love was the last thing she heard here in this world,
That and the words of love from her daughter.

“The Last Sounds She Heard”

^by
Jerry E Smith
©6/18/15
^{Image from Pixabay}
"The Montclair" Assisted Living
!steemitworldmap 33.802818 lat -84.307887 long d3scr

^{These .gifs were created for me by @coquiunlimited; many thanks}