Paul Cardall must have been 15 at the
time he had worked at the ice cream store. They didn’t hire younger than high
school. But he seemed to have such a
junior high awkwardness about him. But
he may have lacked in social skills because of his heart and hospitalization
and being in and out of the doctors all of the time. But I don’t know. I didn’t really have a whole lot of
interaction with him. I’m sure our difference
in age and maturity contributed to that.
Whenever Paul had been assigned to
dishes and was able to listen to music – his music – some wholesome music even –
the twerpy kid would disappear and he would actually turn into a regular human
being.
Corey said he had had some nice
conversations with Paul regarding music.
I would have never dreamed that he would one day perform his music and record
albums and become a name
in many households.
I don’t know where he had been performing
when Sunny had taken my mom to see it.
Mom tells it a little differently each time. But one thing’s for certain – he did request
for my mom to come stand by him on the stage as his picture was being taken by
various people.
Mom still has it on the mirror in her
new room at assisted living. And she can
tell you about why she has it and how surprised she had been. But she knew Paul from the ice cream
store. We all did. Apparently some of us better than others.
Today there was a program at the
community where mom now lives. Some of
my family members were there when we arrived.
We took her by the hand and forced her to sit down.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“We are listening to someone who is
playing the piano. But it’s not Paul
Cardall.”
She related the story again. This time she hadn’t known anyone else in the
room. Nor did he.
In my entire life I had never seen the
enthusiasm that mom displayed today – for the first seven or eight songs
anyway. Seems in the past she has always
tuned music out so it wasn’t even a background sound. But today she sang along with the
player. It was so awesome to see that –
until Roland got up to escort Jenna out of the building and then panic set
in. She stood up to once again ask why she
was there and why none of us would be taking her home. But for a brief moment there was a vibrant thrill
that had been awakened with mom. And it
was great to see her enjoying herself and singing along.
Jenna had also chimed in with the few
songs that she knew. I love listening to
my daughter singing. She was singing
with MercyMe in the car. I wasn’t aware
that she had even known the words to the song. And I loved that she is so in tune and focused on the music that I like.
Music can change our mood. It can uplift our spirits and rejuvenate the
soul. It can also bring us down when
dark tunes and lyrics are played. I prefer
being uplifted and invigorated.
I love that we have so many varieties
of music and how it is a language that each of us can understand.
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