Autumn 1999

My parents celebrated their 52nd aniversary very differently than last year. I am glad that they didn't decide to go to the country. Mom just isn't into doing things. It is hard to motivate her, for some reason she is only active at her day care. Since dad no longer wants to go anywhere overnight with her without me it was a wise decision to stay home.
At dinner, they exchanged greeting cards. My father also found the lyrics to their wedding dance. It was in 1947, so dont' get upset with me because they liked Al Jolson. Anyway they sang "Aniversary Song" to each other reading from the pages he found. They looked so cute, I was hoping that this memory would last forever for each of them.

I decided I had to track down the music, I wanted a CD and a portable player so that I didn't have bring mom to our basement to listen to the music on my computer's CD player. I was not sure of the song's title. It wasn't until the Mayor's Conference on Aging that I confirmed both the title and artist. Boy was I lucky in meeting someone who routinely used the golden oldies with her nursing home patients. She didn't the album title it would be on, however she gave me a great big clue when she confirmed the name was "Aniversary Song" and not "Aniversary Waltz" as mom believed it was named. Good thing I live in such a big city. It was in Colony Music on Broadway. Eureeka! Their sales people are much older than the usual workers in music stores so they knew what I was talking about. However the only album they found it on was actually a collection of Al Jolson's appearances on Eddie Cantor's radio show. It was on before my time. Boy did it make me feel young.
I decided to buy it because it was the only one they could find and I thought Eddie Cantor would amuse mom or mabye she would also enjoy his songs. The song I was looking for was actually on two of the 3 CDs. I was very happy. I only had to buy the portable player. I had heard that I could now buy them for less than $70.

I was right! At last my instincts paid off. Mom was thrilled with the CDs and they had better jokes than I have heard in a long time. I usually don't have to think too hard about today's comedies. They even found ways to get their sponsor's name in some of the jokes. Mom was mostly interested in her song. Now it is hers. She has had me play it so many times I have it almost memorised. She certainly knows it by heart.
One night mom decided that she wanted my father to hear it. So I brought out the boom box and cd. As soon as it was on, they began to sing to each other, then mom started to sway in her seat so dad asked her to dance. It was a wonderful moment. Just think I have this to myself. My brother won't have these memories, he still refuses to spend a weekend with us.

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