The Day the Music Died

All my life I have loved music, all kinds of music, whether it was classical, jazz, blue grass, rock, country or folk.  When I was a young girl, it was ballet.  I loved the music of the ballet.  That changed rapidly with the invasion of the Beatles.  My husband seemed to share this penchant with me.  We moved on up through the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, with each decade introducing a wide new scope of music.  Of course we saved all our albums, which now are referred to as vinyl.  We lived through 8 tracks, tapes, CD’s and now iPods (although I haven’t quite figured those out yet).

I played the piano.  My husband played the bagpipes and we introduced our children to the wide scope of music out there.  Each one can play a variety of instruments, from the piano, guitar, violin, mandolin, banjo, drums and of course the didgeridoo.  (We actually have one and that is a whole other story.) 

My husband and I were teenagers during the 70’s.  We did the concerts, from Rare Earth, Led Zeppelin, Peter Frampton, Yes (my all-time favorite), Chicago and the list goes on and on. 

The 80’s brought us the music video.  I remember after my children were born and having to get up with them in the middle of the night, I would turn on the TV and the only thing on in the middle of the night was music videos!

The 90’s rolled around and my husband discovered his Irish heritage and learned to play the bagpipes.  He joined a police pipe band and became proficient in this particular craft.  As a matter of fact he became better than that, he became great!  He even started teaching the bagpipes in another smaller band. 

All this seem to die with my husband’s accident.  Within the first days when my husband was fighting for his life, I couldn’t stand to hear music.  When it has played such an integral part in your life for so many years, each song brought back a memory.  At this point in time, I could handle everything that was going on at the hospital, make all the necessary decisions needed, but I could not handle hearing music.  I suddenly found myself developing a taste for talk radio and the news instead. 

It’s been five years now, I still like music.  I can listen to it again, although it’s not the same.  I still play the piano, although my son plays it better!  My children still play all their instruments, but my husband can no longer play the bagpipes.  This is the decade of talk, in more ways than one.  It’s relearning the value of words and communication, written and spoken, repetition and practice.  This has become my husband’s new goal to become proficient in.  Speech, his favorite subject!