Music, Memories, and More

This past Friday I got the privilege of going to spend some time with my best friends. During the few hours we spend together, we had an extremely busy schedule which consisted of:

Trivia Game About Inventions and Inventors

Exercise Time

Ice Cream and Good Conversations

Sing and Dance Time

I had so much fun with my best friends this past Friday that the two hour shift I had flew by, and I was sad to go.

For the trivia game, the group was split into two teams: The Mothers of Inventions and The Bluegrass Jewels (there was more women than men participants in the game). We had 4 categories titled Inventions, Inventors, Riddles, and Miscellaneous with point values ranging from 100 to 500. The teams were really encouraging of each other going through the game with both teams winning at the end. This made everybody ecstatic. The excitement of everybody being a winner led us to exercise time.

Found at: http://drmichaelomidi.com/tag/exercise/

Exercise time was good. We were able to stretch out our muscles from being so stationery doing the trivia game. Everybody had to sit during the game, so it was the time to get free and move around. We did kicks to exercise our legs and acted like boxers punching a punching bag for arm exercises. The group counted out loud for punches to stay together. To make it fun we counted in different languages: Spanish, English, French, and German, if I am not mistaken.  All that exercise worked us up a good appetite for some ice cream and good conversation.

As previously stated, we are not allowed to take photographs of the participants at Best Friends. Therefore, the pictures posted will be pictures received from different sources that get an accurate depiction of our time.
Found at: http://www.telegram.com/assets/microsites/baby-boomers/article0011.html

Ice cream is given to the participants of Best Friends Day Center every day. During this time, the

Found at: http://www.jamespreller.com/2010/02/page/2/

volunteers have a chance to have relaxing conversations with our best friend of the day. This time of the day is the time that I value the most. I get the chance to sit and listen to the stories that they remember from their childhood to marriage and everything in between. It lets me develop a relationship with the person, and he or she truly become my best friend. However, once the ice cream is given, it is time to party with sing and dance.

Sing and dance time was great. A lady came in and led is in singing while she played the piano. The participants at Best Friends truly enjoy this part of the day. (Besides their most favorite part: ice cream.) We sang old hymns like Amazing Grace, more upbeat songs like She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain, and the most famous song, My Old Kentucky Home. Whenever, we sang a song that had a faster tempo, the members of Best Friends Day Center were up and dancing, They pulled some volunteers up with them to dance along as well.

Found at : http://jessieonajourney.com/travel-photography-tips/

The best part of this time was seeing how much fun they were having. I was amazed by how well they remembered these songs. Most of them could barely read the lyrics from the songbook that was passed out; however, they did not need to because they knew the songs by memory. It made my heart happy to know that they may not be able to remember every event that took place throughout their lifetime, but they could hold on to one thing in their life: music.

Found at: http://bramleyea.org.uk/activities-services/groups/singing-for-the-brain/

I spoke to one of the leaders at Best Friends about the fact that the members are able to remember the songs so well. She told me that most people will Alzheimer's Disease are able to remember older things that happened in their life than the newer events. Because they learned these songs when they were younger, it is easier for them to remember the lyrics than to remember what they ate for dinner two days ago. She also informed me that they are about to try using music as a therapy for one of the members to keep her calmer during the day.

Volunteering at Best Friends Day Center is allowing me to learn different things that I would not usually learn in a tradition communications classroom setting. For that, I am truly grateful for the opportunity I have been given to share my time with Best Friends. I want to thank you for reading, and I look forward to sharing more of my experiences with you in the time to come.

-Anjae