“Music somehow stays”: Great-grandma with dementia recalls lullaby in heartwarming moment with newborn great-grandson
When Connie Lynn uploaded a touching video of her mother singing to her Instagram account, she didn’t expect it to reach so many people or to warm so many hearts.
The clip features the moment 89-year-old Elinor Hanson got to hold her one-day-old great-grandson, Grayson. Elinor, who had been diagnosed with dementia years before but whose condition had worsened since 2020, delighted the whole family when she began to sing a beloved lullaby to the newborn.
"Okay, it goes like this,” she tells the swaddled baby, before asking, “now, are you listening?"
In the moments to follow, Elinor begins her heartfelt rendition, singing as she rocks him in her arms, “I love you, a bushel and a peck. A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck. A hug around the neck and a barrel and a heap. A barrel and a heap and I'm talking in my sleep about you, about you, 'cause I love you.”
A teary-eyed Elinor trails off to look up at the camera, and with an emotional chuckle tells her family, “I’m going to cry.”
“Great grandma meeting and holding her newest great grandson and singing a song she sung to all the grandkids,” Connie Lynn captioned the post.
“A song my kids know very well. I love you a bushel and a peck,” she continued, “this night made her so happy. It’s amazing how the brain can lose so much but music somehow stays. Music really is amazing for healing and memory.”
Connie’s comments section was flooded with grateful messages from those who had watched the video, with many of them opening up about their own experiences with family members who had and have dementia, and the beautiful moments they shared over babies and music as well.
“I saw this on the Good News feed. It warmed my heart and broke it at the same time,” one admitted, “my parents became great-grandparents near the end of their lives. The babies brought them such joy. My dad had dementia but when he saw the babies his eyes would light up and he would come back to life again, just for a moment. Thank you for sharing this with us.”
“Isn’t it amazing the things that can trigger a bit of normalcy,” another agreed, “a song, a baby, a photo.”
“The sweetest video ever. Both my dad and my brother suffered from Dementia,” a fellow grandmother shared, “it is such a cruel disease. I’m so glad this family will have this video to remember this sweet lady for years to come.”
Speaking to Today.com, Connie confessed that it was the moment right before her mum began singing that took her back to before she had dementia.
“It’s when she says, ‘okay, it goes like this, now you’re listening?,” she said, “that’s my mum that I remember.”
Connie opened up about her mother’s involvement in the lives of her children and grandchildren, calling her “the cookie-baking kind of grandma”, and a “musical lady” who liked to spend her time singing with choirs and at weddings.
With another great-grandchild on the way, Connie is positive that they’ll soon get another chance to hear Elinor’s sweet songs when the two meet.
Images: Instagram