I Stepped out of my Comfort Zone
I actually enjoyed it. Well I enjoyed it once it was happening but not for the days before. Yesterday A few days ago our Bright Lights group went to a nursing home and sang for some of the residents. I was the eldest (of our group, not the old people) and responsible for the nine other young ladies, all but three of which were taller than me. I drove seven of the girls there (our car only holds eight people), that was slightly scary. Then we went into the nursing home. It was a little awkward because it took a while to actually find any of the staff. Then we were take to the dementia ward. Because we had forgotten So we could sing for the residents there.
I had already worked out where everyone would stand and all the girls remembered so that went smoothly. Jane stood at one end and played the flute. After a few song one of the women asked if we could bow or something at the end of each song so they would know when to clap. So I curtsied since I had a long skirt on. I always knew it would come in handy to learn to curtsy properly back when for some reason I did.
I was moved while singing "Trust and Obey" as we got to the chorus I could hear a few quiet voices in other parts of the room and looking about I could see the many of the residents mouthing the words to the song. As we finished one woman said "It has been years since I heard that." We were thanked many times.
As we got to the sixth song I said "This is the last song" and whatever it was called. We were asked to sing again, we managed to sing all six songs again, I figured most of the residents would have forgotten we had just sung them before so it would be as though we were singing new songs each time. The only problem with singing them again was the breathing factor. Despite what you may think breathing is slightly important. After the six songs I felt a little light headed, but when I curtsied for the second last song I stumbled and nearly fell right over because I was so dizzy.
Still everyone enjoyed the experience and we were asked to come again next school holidays. One of the staff mentioned how amazing it was that a group of young people would give up their free time for others. It was just a wonderful feeling to be able to do that, young people can make a difference. And those that do really stand out because they are so different from other people their age.
No that photo has nothing to do with singing at the nursing home except it happened on the same day. Later that afternoon an epic sword fight raged from our front yard up to the neighbors a few houses away. And there a knife thrower joined in.
Swords got dented, scratched, chipped. They parried and whacked at other swords and shields. Watchers were randomly stabbed. Missing limbs, and how dead people were were debated. And after all that I was the only one who did not get shot... as it was me doing the shooting. People (like me) were pronounced dead two seconds after a minor slash in the leg, even though I had been "shooting" the knife wielder the entire time she was charging at me. The epic battle raged.
Until eventually one of the throwing knives got sorta smashed.
Quite a fun afternoon really. If you are interested in the making of the swords, have a look at this post on the master craftsman's blog. For a more detailed account of the epic battle, and from one of the sword master's point of view check out this post on my sisters blog.
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That looks like so much fun. When my younger sister and I were little, we used to spend hours sword fighting with big sticks in our garden. It was so much fun.
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