God Bless America

Today is election day and after voting I went to sing with the folks at Mary Williams Center.   We sang some funny songs and old songs and since it is election day, I decided to sing some patriotic songs.  For years I sang these songs and they never drew an emotion from me. Lately though when  I have sung them with seniors and as they tear up, I can feel that these songs represent something that is important. Something that feels lost right now.  We are such a divided nation.

As we sang, "God Bless America", Rosie began to cry. This is a side I've never seen of her. She is the most animated singer I have ever known. She always sings with gusto and acts out the songs and laughs after each one. But not this time. She cried and said, "I'm so far away from home. This means so much to me. Please keep coming back.  I always love to sing when you are here, it brings us all together."

So when I feel helpless to change the things going on in the big world out there, I do feel better that today one person was moved by the songs we sang together.