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Sense of Direction

A memorable occasion

June Donohue
Posted 6/3/22

My granddaughter, Shauna, who has Myotonic Dystrophy, loves to sing. She puts on a little show for her dad and me in my living room on Sundays.

She plays a recording of the songs and sings along …

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Sense of Direction

A memorable occasion

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My granddaughter, Shauna, who has Myotonic Dystrophy, loves to sing. She puts on a little show for her dad and me in my living room on Sundays.

She plays a recording of the songs and sings along with the artists. She does this so well, which is very impressive since she has trouble with speech due to her condition.

One Sunday she was singing two songs from The Phantom of the Opera and was hitting such a full range of different levels including some very high notes that it brought me to tears.

My son was not sitting where he could see my reaction but when I glanced at him I saw that he was also in tears. Later Shauna apologized for making us cry.

That was when I decided that she could give a concert in my backyard for a few of my friends.

The weather report for Memorial Day weekend was not good, with rain and wind every day except for Sunday, which turned out to be a beautiful sunny day, and luckily was the day we had scheduled for the concert.

Since we are still somewhat cautious due to covid, we felt we’d be better off outside and we had gotten the weather report for Sunday which turned out to be accurate.

My neighbor Kris came and brought Shauna a bouquet of carnations. I had invited my neighbors, Nancy and Pete, but Michael told me he heard them talking about a concert they were going to called The Who at Bethel Woods.

I thought they had changed their minds but it turned out they went to Bethel Woods on Saturday night and came to Shauna’s the next day. I didn't ask them which one was better.

My other neighbors who came were Gene and Carmen, who have the cutest little dog named Hamilton, who was not invited because Michael’s dog was in the backyard with us.

Shauna sang “Think of Me” and “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again,” from Phantom of the Opera. Then we had a cookie and brownie break, which were homemade by me.

Next Shauna sang “When There Was Me and You,” along with Vanessa Hudgens on the High School Musical DVD and a Number by Selena Gomez called “Come and Get It.”  

Shauna was so excited to be doing this. She had been asking me for weeks when it would be and who was coming. I had to make sure the day and time were convenient for all the guests.

Michael said he enjoyed getting to know my neighbors better. As the saying goes, “A good time was had by all.”

In my next column I will be writing about my volunteering for helping take care of Ham – which is the nick name for Hamilton, my neighbor’s dog.

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