This afternoon, I perform for "PBV/Austell" (PBV are the initials).
This is a Memory Care facility in Austell Georgia.
I have a soft spot for memory care.
In 2007, when I put myself into the Veterans Homeless Domiciliary Program in Dublin Ga, I lived IN the hospital for 6 months.
Now, I cannot walk past a piano without at least running a scale, an arpeggio or something just to see if it's tuned, so after a month, once they decided that I really could play the piano, they asked me to play once a week, for one hour in each; the Alzheimer Ward, and the Nursing Home Ward.
While playing that first time in the Alzheimer Ward, when one little old lady piped up and said "My husband and I used to dance to that song" ( the nurses and staff almost fell over: "She SPOKE!!! She hasn't said a word in 4 months!!!!), it was then that I realized the power my playing had for doing good.
Now, since I began playing every month for PBV, it is bittersweet, for I see new people when they come in, and I get to watch them decline month by month, whether it be they retreat deeper into themselves, they become more erratic or just (and most heartbreaking for me) start walking around going 'I don't know where I am, would you please call my family to come get me?'
Oh that is so sad.
I have a lot of equipment to move in and set up now, so I don't do this for free, but I give PBV a break on my price, because I have a soft Spot for Memory Care.