Week 8: Storytime

We have less than a month left and I've only just barely started on data collection.

Whoops.

Buuuuuut anyway, let's not focus on that. Instead, let's focus on how I actually had things to do last week, and how I've finally managed to get all the consent forms from the parents/guardians of the patients I'm studying. So, even if I'm nowhere near close to being really prepared for the final presentation, at least I'm getting there.

I also just realized I haven't really given many anecdotes lately, so I figured, rather than just list out all my worries and grievances and have my mini freak-outs on here, that I'd just take this entry to have a little recount of things. I mean, who doesn't love a little story time here and there?

This anecdote specifically happened at Suntree, where, as some of you may remember, I spend my Tuesday mornings, playing music with seniors, some with Alzheimer's, some with dementia, and some with neither. On this particular Tuesday, I was greeted with quite the full house, with more people at the center than I had ever seen there at one point in time. Most of them were somewhat familiar faces, and the new ones were quite friendly, so I was nervous. I suppose more than anything, it was just a bit overwhelming having so many people at once.

That is, until the very end, when one of the ladies who worked at the center pulled me to the center, and asked me to introduce myself, or, in her words: "talk about yourself for a few minutes-- tell us all about you!" No pressure, right?

So for a good three minutes I, the bumbling mess I am, stammered and sputtered out random words about myself-- "born in India, raised here," "senior in high school," "like the color purple," and so on-- until one despicable (okay not really but they really weren't appreciated here) soul made a suggestion.

"Sing for us!"

Now, I'm quite used to being asked to sing, but that was almost always by family. By cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents in India who wanted to hear whatever I learned in my, y'know, Indian music classes. Rarely from people in the States, let alone from the people here at Suntree. All sorts of thoughts rushed through my head:

"What would I even sing?"

"Do I have to do it?"

"Can I come up with an excuse not to?"

"Why don't I want to?"

And so on. Cue me standing there stammering for another few minutes before, uncharacteristically, I made the decision to sing the first thing that came to my head when they asked me for"one of those Indian songs you learn."

As for how it went, well... was I out of tune? Kinda. Was I in beat? Not at all. Was I shaky? Very. Was it okay? Surprisingly... yes. I know we, as people, often like to freak out over things too much and over-analyze ourselves, but it's one thing to know it, and it's another to do it.

Everyone in the music group enjoy it, saying how it sounded unlike so much of what they usually here, and life moved on. Done. Over. Finished. Those few minutes that I was internally stressing out so much over was, in reality, just that: a few minutes.

...Okay, that sounded a little more like a story with a lesson than I expected it to, but hey, life lessons are important, right? ...Right?

Either way, hopefully you were able to have at least a little chuckle or two at my panic. I know these past few weeks haven't been the most informative of posts from me, but I promise I'll post more about the clinic and my actual project soon.

'Til then, hope y'all have a nice rest of the week. and I'll try to actually get my next update out on time (no promises though...).