Tag Archives: childhood

“Child Again”

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Picture of classmates with Harry Strong to the right

Picture of classmates - Harry Strong on the far right

Yesterday classmate Harry Strong,sent this by email in response to Steve and my reflection “Words from childhood” posted on Views from the Edge. I asked Harry for permission to publish part of his email here. Harry’s reflection ends with questions for your reflection.

–  by Harry Lee Strong, San Juan Mountains, Colorado, sent April 28, 2012

While teaching adult classes at the Church of the Wildwood in Green Mountain Falls, I led a course called: “Could I Sing That Song and Mean It?”  We sang and listened to a number of sacred and secular pieces on various topics. This was one of them.

“Child Again” (Beth Nielsen Chapman) 

She’s wheeled into the hallway
Till the sun moves down the floor
Little squares of daylight
Like a hundred times before
She’s taken to the garden
For the later afternoon
Just before her dinner
They return her to her room

And inside her mind
She is running
She is running in the summer wind
Inside her mind
She is running in the summer wind
Like a child again

The family comes on Sunday
And they hover for a while
They fill her room with chatter
And they form a line of smiles
Children of her children
Bringing babies of their own
Sometimes she remembers
Then her mama calls her home … CHORUS

Playmate, come out and play with me
(It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man is snoring)
And bring your dollies three
(Bumped his head on the edge of the bed)
Climb up my apple tree
(Never got up in the morning)
Slide down my rain barrel
(Rain, rain, go away)
Into my cellar door
(Come again another day)
And we’ll be jolly friends
(Little Johnny wants to play)
Forevermore
(Some more) … CHORUS

  1. Do you have family members or friends who are suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia? 
  2. What counsel, wisdom, or inspiration do you have to offer  to caregivers and loved ones who are trying to be helpful companions  to those whose mind is not what it used to be?

Words from Childhood

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Personal reflection – a Visit with Red – written April 28, 2012

I walk through the door to his room…quietly. He is lying on his left side, his back to the door, his body turned toward the windows, in a fetal position.

His wife of 50 years had put him there. Couldn’t care for him anymore at home. That was a year ago.

Now he didn’t know her name or recognize her face.

The usual visits are the theater of the absurd. Becket’s’ Waiting for Godot. Blank stairs. Monologues. Boredom. Wondering why I go…except…he’s there. I could be too.

I tiptoe around the foot of the bed. I hear his voice. His eyes are closed. His lips are moving. “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take” – the prayer he committed to memory as a child.

Slow - Children

Slow - Children

He finishes and seems at peace. I pause…quietly speak his name…and place my hand gently on his shoulder. He opens his eyes.

“Good morning, Red. It’s Gordon.”

Blank stare.

“Your pastor…from Knox Church.”

His eyes grow wide. He smiles. He reaches out his hand…and looks me in the eye – a memory unlocked from deep within his soul…beyond the reach of Alzheimer’s.

“The Church Choir” –  Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, April 28, 2012

Words sung can be remembered long

after words said.  A person with

Alzheimer’s still may sing a song

recalled from church or school.  The myth

that music is a gift for few

blessed with a perfect pitch is just

malicious:  any in a pew

who talk can sing!  Of course, they must

speak S-L-O-W-L-Y and (the hardest thing

of all) must listen to others

around them–and follow the fingers

or baton of conductors

who beg and plead, talk loud or soft

to lure folks into the choir loft

All these years later…I wish I’d sung with Red  that day. “Jesus loves me; this I know…” S-L0-W-L-Y… from the choir loft… in the nursing home.