The joy of Music & Dance
When our daughter’s treatment started, and her social life came to a grinding halt, we needed to think of new ways to keep her happy. She was a very active kid before, and now, she was suddenly confined to the four walls of the house (barring the clinic and hospital of course). No playdates, no school, no classes… That’s enough to drive any kid nuts…
Art, music and dance gave her something to look forward to — a new way to express herself and her feelings. Thanks to their combined relaxing effects, our kid morphed from a victim of cancer to a brave and positive-spirited fighter.
For months, our five year old had been asking for piano lessons. We didn’t take her seriously earlier. Now, we couldn’t bear to ignore her request. We searched around, got lucky and found a really sweet piano teacher who was willing to come home to teach our daughter. Our kid was so thrilled that she would practice her lessons eagerly. I still remember how excited she was when she finished the first book (level A). She couldn’t stop telling everyone at home about her graduation! 🙂
We also had fun making up our own silly songs. One of these songs became her favorite lullaby. Whenever she was sad, or in pain, or had a bad dream, we hugged each other and I would sing this song, while rocking her. She would fall asleep like a baby. When she was awake and felt silly, she would add her own funny lyrics to this song.
“She is so brave,
she is so kind,
she is so loving all the time.
She gives and gives
a lot of love.
She gives and gives
a lot of joy.
She is an awesome listener,
she is a terrific helper.
She is the best gift that we received,
we love her very much!”
Her other favorite songs were Rachel Platten’s “Fight song”, Katy Perry’s “Happy Birthday”, “Unconditionally”, “Roar”, “Fireworks”, and Shakira’s “Waka Waka”. She loved to dance to these songs. Besides fun, this was an awesome way to exercise and strengthen her muscles weakened by chemotherapy.
My fondest memory is when she completed the 6 rounds of intra muscular shots (one on each thigh, total of 12 shots) during the consolidation phase. She was so happy all the shots were over, that when she came home, she turned on loud music and danced like crazy for an hour!! It was the most innocent and beautiful victory dance that we had seen…