Since I had an appointment this morning, I decided to walk at dawn. There was a fog advisory, but I didn’t notice it until I walked a few blocks to the parkway. The streets were void of cars, and the sidewalks were bare. I sensed in the October gloominess I was alone.
I set the cochlear app on my ear devices and decided to tune in to a playlist on my iPhone. It was the one I made of songs reminding me of my parents. I named it Pop Memories. I listened to “Pennies from Heaven” and set my walking stride. It was nice to be able to hear music in both ears after so many years of silence.
I kept thinking of the songs I loved long ago and how I kept them alive in my memory during deafness. My musician son explained stereo sound to me once when I was hearing Ray Charles in one ear and the Rayettes in the other one. We had a good laugh about that.
The next song on my walk was “Tennessee Waltz”, and I could picture my parents dancing in the kitchen.
Something weird happened with my playlist because I could only hear the song in one ear. It paused and a different song started playing in my other ear. Was this head noise or musical memories? The song was “It’s Been a Long, Long Time” which Daddy used to sing to Mama.
This wasn’t stereo in one song. This was a different song in each ear, and they were taking turns. I thought I saw him dressed like Fred Astaire and her in a flowing Ginger Rogers gown swaying in the fog a few feet away. It made me wonder if they were dancing in heaven and wanted me to know their love was everlasting.
[Photo: My parents dating 1934]
© 2021 All Rights Reserved