Earlier, on the Facebook page, I posted this picture; Someone then commented naming a song that I had never heard of and said it actually was about Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's disease has been something very close to my heart for my entire life, and my great grandma passed away from it last September. The interesting thing though, was despite the fact that she forgot everything, right down to eating or breathing, she remembered a song until the day she died. I've always thought that was incredible, because it just proves the power of music all over again. So, hearing that there is a song about Alzheimer's, just made me overly curious. Its honestly a heart breaking song, but its sort of beautiful in the most morbid way. Its "I Won't Miss You" by Glen Campbell. Now this name meant nothing to me, but I passed the song along to my mother with the disclaimer, "Listen at your own risk, as it will put you in tears." When she heard his name she instantly got interested, and she told me he was apparently a big country star in the 70's who often blurred the genre lines. I put the disclaimer on the song just because I was honestly choking up slightly just twenty seconds into the song, and was full on crying before the song hit the minute mark. That's a sign of a damn good song though. If it can touch your emotions that much, you know its powerful. Upon hearing the song, my mom started doing some research and discovered that Glen made a documentary called, "I'll Be Me", revolving around his final tour. He actually invited film makers along for the journey, which was originally supposed to only be a three week tour. He ended up playing 151 shows, because he simply did not want to stop playing shows until he absolutely could not do it anymore.
The reason he invited film makers onto the tour was because he wanted to bring awareness to Alzheimer's. Speaking as someone who also would love to have more awareness brought to this horribly depressing illness, I think this is incredible, even if I had no idea who this man was until an hour before this post was written. The documentary is in select theaters all over the US, and has been since October of this year. Details can be found on the website for showtimes and cities, if anyone is interested. This actually inspired me to vocalize an idea that I had, in favor of raising money for the cause. I'm not going to explain just yet, but once I get some things set in stone, I will talk about it properly. There's a million awful illnesses out there, and its a shame they all exist. I hope cures are found for all of them, but the reason I am so passionate about this particular cause is because it literally steals everything away from you. Including your memories of your loved ones, and it shuts everything down slowly, so you truly suffer, while forgetting it all. That's why the song is kind of bittersweet. It points out that the one with the illness won't miss you, or realize what you're going through. Which is good for them, because at least its one less burden for them, but its heartbreaking for everyone around. The opening line was enough to make me choke up, "I'm here, but I'm gone." To anyone who has never had a loved one with it, it sounds like a nonsensical lyric, right? That's not the case though. Their body is there, even some of their brain may be, but they're slowly fading away and it sucks! I want to bring awareness to this, because they say they don't know what causes it. If they'd put more money and effort into it, and all the other awful diseases, maybe cures could be found for everything. Maybe there would finally come a day where no loved one would be taken away too soon. People just have to care enough to speak up, and speak out about it all. And then someone has to care enough to work on it.
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January 2022
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