Ivy is completely finished at Children’s Hospital. Her feeding tube is out and we are home. Please come and visit!
Frank, Ivy, Marco and I went to a Valentine’s Dance last night…..”Ivy’s” band was playing, that’s what she calls Unfinished Business these days. Ivy worked her muscles so much that she had to sit out the last set. During previous “dance” therapies, she was up, mostly held up by someone else. But last night was different.
Let me take you on a mind walk. Up until the last two events, I have been the one on the dance floor with her, save a few cut in’s by brother, father and a couple of friends. Now, it seems I have been replace by MARCO, Ivy’s boyfriend. Does that bother me?….ha…..I laugh in the face of jealousy, HA-HA.
But I have to put my foot down. “I” get to dance with her when the band plays Soul Man and Shout, which they do back to back. So the band gets ready. Ben and Jim put on their shades and I tell Ivy “to bad if you are tired. It’s my time now.” As we were dancing, Ivy felt as if she was supporting her weight and was balancing herself. I pull my arms away from her and her reaction was to pull the one arm she has around my neck, up off my neck.
SHE WAS STANDING….ON HER OWN….WITHOUT SUPPORT!!!!!!!!
Now granted this was for a brief moment, but we, no she did it over and over again while singing with the band “I’m a soul man….” I looked at Frank and Marco and they were watching giving a thumbs up. The drummer, Dave and lead guitarist, Ed couldn’t stop smiling. They saw her as well.
At other moments, she also was bending her knees to the beat of the music and lifting her feet….one at a time of course. She also stretched out her left arm…away from her side, straightening her elbow as best she could.
She really worked and this morning is sore and tired. But she wants to exercise again today “because that is what you do with sore muscles…to build them up of course”.
I have one more short story to share from yesterday. Ivy wants me to tell you that she did not approve this message, whatever that means….
As we were driving home from LA we were listening to one of Ivy’s CD mix. A Bob Marley tune came on that I had never heard before and I’ve been singing over and over and over again ever since. Both Frank and Ivy think I’m nuts and tell me to shut up….
Now, in order for me to learn the words to a song, I must play it over and over again. Ivy says I become annoying. The lyrics to this particular song are very simple but I repeated the song all the way home from the south end of Santa Maria to Arroyo Grande, over half an hour, and with Ivy’s help I learned the lyrics.
And it goes like this….
Rise up this mornin,
Smiled with the risin sun,
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singin sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Sayin, (this is my message to you-ou-ou:)
Singin: dont worry bout a thing,
cause every little thing gonna be all right.
Singin: dont worry (dont worry) bout a thing,
cause every little thing gonna be all right!
That’s it.................…it repeats and repeats…..and repeats
When we got home we called Casey, Ivy’s brother. I was singing while they talked. They both told me to shut up, nice kids don’t you think….at least they were laughing while they said it.
Now I sing it with my whole heart because it is so perfect.
This morning Ivy is wiggling the toes on her right foot and asks why she can’t wiggle the toes on her left foot. And I tell her…”don’t worry ….about a thing….cause EVERY LITTLE THING GONNA BE ALL RIGHT….” And again she laughs and tells me to shut up. Again she questions me “Are you high? What have you been smoking?” My reply is "This is much, much better….I’m just sooooooo happy for you!!!!!”.
AND I’m still singing……”…….every little thing gonna be all right.”
PS the song is Three Little Birds.
