Community friends.
Song title only today. I always go to the version released by Willie Nelson in 1982 on album of the same name.
While Nat King Cole is my favorite male vocalist, Willis Nelson sits right up there too.
The song title says it all about this community of people. I am proud to say I found a connection in life.
Enjoy day best you can.
Dan / Seattle
Hi Dan, I think I'm going to start downloading those songs you mention I don't have. There can be so many versions of a song but one that just gets ya ✌️
Amallia.
I am a byproduct of singing along with the radio all of those years. See, I go back to the days of eight track players, turntables, cassettes, CD's, and now Sonos.... These days I sit all day in the house alone in silence. Songs just pop out of my head. I will find them on YouTube and play it and sing along. It best therapy yet. I would play the two saxophones we keep if I had the breath and finger movements to do it but I don't. Then again, I can't even hang on to the mouthpiece much less the horn itself. Feels like a ton to hold up. The reeds are too expensive to tear up these days. I do remember teaching the kids to sing "Georgia on My Mind" with Ray Charles on the cassette. It was hilarious going down the road with all four of us crooning at the top of our lungs. The kids would pronounce "Georgia" as "gee- jah because they were too young to form the sound. So funny.
Played sax in jazz and concert band. You get lost in it and the music just takes over. What you hear from the instruments all around you seems to carry you higher and higher. Feeds off itself and freedom sets in. It was a wonderful thing to be part of.
Music can be brought to life and helps now when needed.
Dan / Seattle
Amallia.
That just brought back memories of playing in The University of Tennessee marching band. There was 275 of us in our orange and black uniforms wearing white spats on our shoes. The sound on the football field was so loud it just engulfed you. You could not hear yourself play. My buddy would mount a camera on his trombone and take pics because there were 95,000 people in the stands. We used to open with theme from Zarathustra better known as" 2001 A Space Odyssey ". It electrified the crowd as we made arc formations coming out of the endzone. The sound was incredible. ABC television sports would always show us at halftime when they broadcast the game. We would have so much fun.
Dan / Seattle
Sounds amazing. You do everything bigger and better over there. I was a Chicago bulls fan in the days of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, used to stay up til 5am at the playoffs and always said I would see an NBA game live before I die.
I think music is not only healing but transports you to the past. For xmas I got a few cassettes with a Hot Chocolate tape, when I was 8 along with a cassette player which I thought was the coolest. I found it almost 20 years later and it still worked.
Singing for me has become a measure of how healthy I feel as well as enjoying singing. Because I couldn't breathe for a few months I measured singing by that. Now i know I'm recovered because I can sing along again. I also put music on when I'm getting ready in the morning, usually something cheesy and fun to start the day off well. I'm a big 70s fan.
I also love carpool karaoke on YouTube as we don't get the show here and Stevie Wonder was my absolute favourite. Also because he seems like a genuinely nice guy. I saw James Cordon say how they expect an hour from each person in the car but he got 3 with Stevie because he didn't want to leave and who would kick Stevie Wonder out of there car?! I used to work with bands. I did security a long time ago so there are albums that remind me of that time too. Only got the albums if the person was nice. There are a lot of horrors out there.
Amallia.
My 3rd grade tutoring student wrote his Black History Month celebration essay on Michael Jordan. He brought back those memories with Pippen and the Bulls perfectly. It has been years since I went to a game but it is definitely something you should do. Eldest daughter lives in downtown Chicago now. Her husband still works out of Dallas. They have access to pro sports. Like you, our whole family would stay up to wee hours when we lived back east if team was in playoffs on west coast. Even grandmother would yell at the TV.
Always loved music of groups like Steely Dan, Doobie Brothers, Chicago Transit Authority, Fleetwood Mac, etc. Aretha Franklin another favorite. Of course, have to get in some country. Listened to " Orange Blossom Special" last night. But also soak up the instrumentalists of jazz. Paul Desmond is my favorite sax player. He played with Brubeck. Some like him on "Here's That Rainy Day" or "Emily" but I love the tracks of "Skylark" and Take Ten." How can he make that horn sing like that? I don't know...
Collected Stevie Wonder albums. A whole 'nother conversation. Never could do what you did with bands. That must have been quite the experience. Plenty of stories I am sure. I struggled when friends wanted to go see violent movies. Did not see the point.
Keep singing. Make Stevie Wonder proud. It is good for the soul as they say. I think it is also good for the neurologics....
Happy Sunday. May some energy find its way to you.
Dan / Seattle
Oh I forgot to mention that I can carry a tune but often get words wrong. It's weird I can almost say whole scripts of favourite movies but songs I believe I'm singing the right words, that's why I sing alone 😊
Amallia.
The words come and go. The song is in the heart. You sing to the world. They need to hear you. As I tell my tutoring student when he gets the math right on his own, stand up on your chair and shout out loud that you did it. People need to know your voice. Sing out Amallia. Nothing else matters.
Dan / Seattle
Yeah, and people stare all the time. I never conform.
I love your confidence. And I didn't know you tutored. I did it when I took a break from nursing to go back to security. I'd tutor student nurses. For me helping others takes my mind off my own issues which is why I liked volunteer work here but there are restrictions as it can't be too physical. Need to start making 21st century mix tapes/playlists on my computer and singing out loud. Also my cats love being sung to, they purr so loud, so maybe I'm not that bad 😊
Amallia.
Our dog and cat love it too.
There are no restrictions girl. You have way too much knowledge and life to share. Make em come to your porch. And let them sing along. You touch lives. People need that. Play those songs loud. You on this earth for reasons. "Do your thing."
Show them how to dunk that basketball or dig that baseball out of the dirt when it is thrown too low. Man, life for me always comes back to when I was a baseball catcher as a kid. I never knew what the heck was fixin' to happen but it all started with that pitch sign and where I put that mitt behind the plate... With chatter I could get everybody confused!
Dan / Seattle
Songs bring you back to another place...Sometimes a happier one and sometimes a difficult one, but music has a way of touching our soul. In the Garden is one of my favorites, it is a place where all is well in the world and I can sit in the tender serenity of my Savior. It is just Him and me, I am healthy and safe from the outside world, and I am the apple of HIs eye. Love that song.....My second is a song by Patty Loveless, it is called How can I help you say good bye. It covers a multitude of emotions to deaths, I"ve had way too many in my life, to health, to relationships to moves. It goes on to say in the song, Lifes about changes, nothing ever stays the same...Such true words cut to the heart of all who have lost something. Pray this day finds you all well and doing whatever you can to the best you can...
Health has been poor, sorry dear friends I have been so absent, I keep up on the posts as well as I can. Mayo appointment is set for May 2nd, I see the gastro and rheumatologist then. I am trying to move it up. Much appreciated all the prayers I send them back 10 fold. God Bless each of you, Cathy 
Good luck Cathy sending hugs and healthy thoughts 🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗
Cathy.
Just listened to Brad Paisley sing "In the Garden.". That got Tricia to singing along. I just sat with eyes closed and thought of you.
The prayers keep coming for you sister. They never stop. Here is to hoping Mayo treats you well. We know you are trying and we appreciate the effort to find out. May peace find its way.
God Bless you on this Sunday. With all the love we got.
Dan and Tricia and Andrea. / Seattle
Thank you Dan and Tricia, Also Amelia, He holds me in the palm of HIs hands...Too blessed to ever be too down...Love and Hugs to All, thank you so much.......
cathys20
Hi Cathy.
Read this morning on autoimmune disease.
Benaroya Research Institute here in Seattle conducting investigations into how external stresses like viral infections can modify proteins and trigger T cell activation resulting in autoimmune attacks in the body. They are using this research to look at all autoimmune diseases.
First time I had read how protein alterations could be triggering immune dysfunction. I just wanted to let you know.
Have a good night Cathy. Keep us posted on how you are.
Much love
Dan / Seattle
Thank you for thinking of me. Interesting information. I sure pray they can figure this thing out, I am hopeful, my cup remains half full. You have a blessed evening with your family. God Bless,
I love music too...perhaps we just have to fill our thoughts with music and "everything will be alright". Perfect distractibility!
Love to dance too, which is a drag good thing...... Of course lately I am always dancing to just remain in stand...but oh what a fun way to move about. right?
Patti86.
You just stay upright. Keep dancing. You are so full of joy I think you could hand it out to millions of us and you would still have a full tank for tomorrow.
Thank you. We will survive. I cause too much trouble on this earth just by asking "why.". You keep getting up and out there. We gonna reshape this world. At the least, we will all wind up on Dancing with the Stars show and we will show them what Gene Kelley, Donald O'Conner, Ginger Rogers used to do on the stage.
Sending you sunshine from Seattle today.
What do they say:
It's so bright, I gotta wear shades...
Then, ZZ Top sang- " ...and go get yourself some cheap sunglasses..."
Dan.
I love Nat as well. Love to sing. That is one thing I find interesting with FND is that even though I lose my voice from muscle tension dysphonia, or have intermittent speech, I can still sing. Years ago I wanted to participate in my church, but couldn't pray or talk, so I joined my ward choir instead. Now I have my husband and youngest daughter with me. I love to sing with the radio as well. Some of my favorites.. 50's, beach boys, Nat king Cole, Gene Kelly, 80's and so many others.
Cheryl.
Beach Boys! That is what I have been missing. You and I could listen to the same music all day. I memorized the words to "Smile" by Nat King Cole. Used to sing it at the bus stop when I was working. Always took a lot off my mind. My voice has nasal tone so I only sing when no one is around.
Sounds great that you can sing and better yet be with Matt and your daughter in the choir. I wonder why the difference between singing and speech in the dysphonia?
Regardless, I give thanks that it does not stop you from singing.
Thank you Cheryl. Brightens up the day!
Dan / Seattle
Gray is my thing...
GETTING BETTER 2
