I'm by no means a professional, but I play and sing at a local critical care hospital twice a month. The guy who heads up the music part of Hospice is, both professional and ON, bigtime. He came with me, the first time I played at the hospital and he was all over the place, had a rose in his teeth, played on bended knee before the ladies. He really put on a SHOW.

Oy, I thot to myself, what an act to follow! Flamboyant, I'm not. I have trouble even making eye contact when I sing. But I do talk to everybody, try to sing songs they know, let them talk, even if it interrupts a song.

Most of the patients in this place are in various stages of dementia, many pretty far gone. And yet, there is the same bunch of people, month after month, that show up. That touches me very much. And when I see some of these people come to life, start tapping toes, some even getting up and dancing around, well, I don't know that it makes me feel proud, exactly, but it sure makes me feel GOOD!