A Reason To Find The Will To Live
By mcscraic
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A Reason To Find The Will To Live
By Paul McCann
Jimmy was wild child , a lone wolf . He was always making trouble . He was expelled from school at year 7 . The principle had given him too many warnings . He couldn’t be taught and was unable to read or write when he was expelled .
He started work at an early age , pushing wheelbarrows and carrying brinks up ladders on building sites . He was quick to learn new skills and soon learnt to drive a truck and eventually he became a fulltime truck driver .
Sally was a tom boy ; she was in and out of fights all the time at school . Her parents couldn’t control her . At an early age she had a few tattoos on her body . She had a motor bike that she rode to school and never made many friends . When she left school, her parents help fund the cost to open up a tattoo parlour . There was a chemistry between Sally and Jimmy and before long they were dating .
Sallys parents were not happy with Jimmy and Sally wasn’t happy about that .
One night Sally and Jimmy pelted their house with stones and not long after that Jimmy and Sally got married .
Eventually Sally’s parents accepted him for who he was and things got better between them .
Sally continued working in her tattoo parlour and Jimmy stayed behind the wheel carting hay to farmers in big semi-trailers . He took an interest to music and found anew pastime playing the guitar . Sally and Jimmy had a little show they did once a week around the pubs singing country songs to the crowds there .
Happy and healthy they lived together then as their children arrived one after the other, they took a break from playing music to bring up their kids .
In the passage of time , all their children listened to their songs and stories .
40 years down the track Sally and Jimmy were admitted into a nursing home and their children visited for a while but they were busy bringing up children of their won so the visits became fewer and eventually they never came at all .
Sally passe away and Jimmy was not doing so good , He fell into a depression and sat alone everyday .
One of the nurses who worked in the nursing home read through his life story that was on record in the computer in the nursing home and she instantly took a liking to Jimmy and she wanted to try a few different strategies to help him find a reason to live .
She brought a device with some country music for him to listen to and she brought in a guitar and left it in his room . She put some photos of trucks around his room and started to get him talking .
One day as she was helping him with his hygiene, she saw the two tattoos on his back and asked him if he had been in prison .
Fore the first time Jimmy laughed and replied.
“Why do you ask me that . I’ve never been to prison in my life “
The young nurse replied ,.
“Those bird tattoos on your back are the ones worn by inmates who have been to high security prisons “
Jimmy was intrigued and said ,
“When I met Sally, I just like those birds , they were in a book she had and I asked her if she could put them on me , not long after that we got married “
Then Jimmy started talking about Sally and when he told the nurse how they used to perform at the local pubs the young nurse asked if he would play a few songs for her “
Jimmy picked up the guitar and played a Tom Waits song.
“I hope that I Don’t Fall in Love with You “
The nurse knew that song and she began to sing it as Jimmy played .
Suddenly there was a glow about Jimmy that she had never seen .
She asked Jimmy if he would play for the other residents in the nursing home and he gave it some thought and eventually with a little gentle persuasion he said he would .
One afternoon Jimmy performed for all the residents who loved his music the director of nursing asked Jimmy to play more often .
Eventually Jimmy was a regular on the nursing home bus playing his songs on outings with the other residents who all sang along .
Jimmy had found the will to live again and with a song in his heart he lived for many years in the nursing home doing what he liked to do best .
The End
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Comments
I like this. Jimmy and Sally,
I like this. Jimmy and Sally, two ordinary people who found each other and lived their lives. Sally goes and Jimmy finds something to keep him going. I'm sure this applies to many people throughout the years. Really nice read Paul.
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It's amazing how tunes wake
It's amazing how tunes wake old people up and often words come to their mind, long 'forgotten'. We do a little service in a couple of homes for the elderly, one where there is no dementia, one where there is much, but many join in, both reading, singing, choosing the hyms they remember. This week, one elderly gentleman immediately looked at the large-pring booklet we'd printed and said, 'That's my favourite'. It was 'O Lord, my God when I in awesome wonder consider all the works thy hand has made …'. At the end he shuffled over to the piano with his zimmer and tonked out the music joyfully, I think with just one hand, the other possibly not working properly now. I think he had worked on cruise ships playing music.
As for reason to live, I know one elderly lady was so valued in the Home she had to go to live in, for they found her a peacemaker whom they could put between two fractious people at meal times! And some do much good with their prayers in their old age! Rhiannon
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