The weekend after Valentine’s Day is even more melancholy for those isolated by illness or advanced age. Sunday’s movie night at Rivington House started off rather low key. My NYCares crew, Jeff, Marissa and Stephanie arrived at 6:20 to help me serve chocolate cake and snacks as we watched a documentary on John Coltrane with the residents.
At 7 the movie started. It featured Coltrane playing “My Favorite Things” at every milestone in his career. The tranquility of the music was wasted on me as the caffine from my afternoon cappachino started to kick in. When I’d heard the first few notes of “My Favorite Things” for the third time my mind flipped to the Blues Brothers movie and the song “Rawhide.”
I sat next to Baby Girl, one the youngest residents. She had a million questions ranging from who did the research for this documentary to where I bought my boots. “My Favorite Things” started up again and I took it as a cue to launch into one of my favorite things. I signaled to Jeff, pointing to the chair on the other side of Baby Girl, made a brief introduction and circulated around the room. A few seconds later the rest of us were whispering and giggling with several of the residents.
The energy level in the room spiked. My buddies were smiling and so were my volunteers.
A little flirting does wonders for the immune system.
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