Like a sitcom from the 80s and 90s, every person is innately tied to their family members in the best and most difficult of ways. JC, a millennial with 6 Gen X siblings, a boomer mother and a greatest generation dad talks about taking care of the ties that bind.
This is the last live stream of the day. JC Lippold was the music director of a senior citizen rock ensemble. Two of his friends, Chuck, 89, and Molly, 86, sang a powerful song at their end of the year concert.
Well, hey there, Cadre. Gosh, Thursdays are such a special day in the Cadre sphere. Caregiver day here has such a lovely, lovely, lovely lineup of people sharing stories and ideas and realities, hard and beautiful and filled with all of the stuff. And I believe this is the last. The last live stream of the day. My name is JC Lippold, and this is family ties, the ties that bind. Nice to see all y'all logging in for a little. If you're in the central time zone or in the eastern time zone, a little end of the day, say, hey, livestream.
Well, my name is JC Lippold, and if you've never shared time and space together before, thank you for spending a few minutes with me. I'd like to tell you a little story. So last year I had the opportunity. Happy Thursday, Jules. Last Thursday, I. No, it is Thursday. I saw Thursday and I went right there. Not last Thursday. Last year I had the opportunity of being the music director of get a senior citizen rock ensemble. Not even kidding. It's a non profit group. This senior citizen rock ensemble was started 14 years ago to bust down the walls that say that senior citizens are supposed to be quiet after they reach the age of 62 and retire and kind of go off into the sunset and simply be quiet.
And this group does so by using rock music. So they sing rock music and tell stories. Well, last night I went back and I saw their end of the year rock concert, and it's powerful. Well, two of my friends, Chuck, age 89, and Molly, age 86, sang this song just yesterday morning. Let me know you were gone. Suzanne, the plans they made put an end to you. I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song. I just can't remember who to send it to. I've seen fire and I've seen rain I've seen sunny days?
And I thought they would never end I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend but I always thought that I'd see you again but won't you look down upon me? Jesus, you gotta help me to make a stand just gotta see me through another day my body's aching my time is at hand I won't make it any other way I've seen fire and I've seen rain I've seen sunny days? And I thought they would never end I've seen only times when I could not find a friend but I always thought that I'd see you again so as I said last night, my two friends, Chuck, age 89, and Molly, age 86, they sang this song at the Alive and Kickin concert a year ago, I was their music director, and this nonprofit is kind of going through some transition, per se.
And this year, I'm no longer their music director because it was better for them for me to kind of move back and take a different role within this organization and support them in their growth in a different way. And the way that these concerts work is they tell stories from their life, and then normally right after they tell their stories, then they sing a song. Well, Molly told a story. So the theme this year is the seventies. So all the music were either from the 1970s or stories about them being in their seventies.
Both Molly and Chuck told songs about the 1970s. Molly, actually, in the 1970s, she was raising her kids and was a stay at home parent, but had no interest in not being engaged in the world. So she actually started one of the first food shelves in the state of Minnesota and was very, very engaged in her church. And now, as an 86 year old, sang this beautiful James Taylor song. And this second verse about this relationship with. With this Jesus has a very different context. And then Chuck, or Chuck Pickett, age 89, who sang this first verse.
Chuck struggled with some health ailments when he was younger. He's the oldest member of the group, 89. Thankfully, his wife is the nurse who takes care of alive and kickin, so she travels with the group. Carol is a. Is literally a saint, but Chuck had polio when he was a kid, and among many other things. Well, Chuck actually had a heart attack a couple months ago. And a lot of the work that alive and kickin does is actually around longevity and positive energy within this generation of individuals.
And, you know, it's often said that being a part of this group keeps them going. Well, Chuck actually isn't able to rock and roll in the same way that he used to. And another one of the members of Aliven Kickin actually sang the beginning of the song with Chuck. So Chuck sat on his stool, and our buddy John sang at the beginning of the song. So after Chuck told the story, John came up and stood next to Chuck and put his hand on Chuck's back, and the two of them sang the first verse and the first chorus together.
And, you know, saying, I've seen fire and I've seen rain. I've seen sunny days and I thought they would never end. I've seen lonely times and all of these things. Like. Like, even if you don't know the song fire and rain, you kind of know the song fire and rain. And I miss this group. I miss spending time with this part of my chosen family. And I shared on social media earlier on today. I watched Colleen's livestream today. And I watched Kathy's livestream today. Those are the two I was able to watch live.
Colleen's livestream hit me in all ways. And I was watching in between some stuff that I have going on in my own life and had more tears. And when I was watching Chuck and Molly and John sing last night, I had some tears. And, hey, caregivers out there, it's really interesting. The life of the caregiver truly is about being in the space of those people that we care for, in the ways that they need us, when they need us, how they need us in the moment that they need us. I was watching the three of them up on stage care for each other and sing and tell stories about the way that they've cared for those people that needed them, when they needed them.
And as an audience member last night of this rock concert, I got to be taken care of by their music and by their stories and was reminded that I got to be in the space as caregiver for them for a beautiful six months, just as they were caring for me last night. So wherever you are, whatever's going on, if you know a little fire and rain in your heart and in your head, sing it with me. And if you don't let this music care for you right now, this one is for Chuck. This one's for Molly. And this is for those johns who step up alongside us to bring us forward.
Just yesterday morning, they let me know you were gone. Susan, the plans they made put an end to you. Walked out this morning, and I wrote down this song. I just can't remember who to send it to. I've seen fire and I've seen rain. I seen the sunny days and I thought they would never end. I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend. But I always thought that I'd see you again. Cadre Sphere. There's never a moment that I do not find a friend right here in the Cadre sphere. And thank you for that.
Cheers to the end of a Thursday. We will see you right back here tomorrow, on Friday. I will see you on the Saturday and the Sunday. And guess what? If you ever need anything, send us a message. Have a good one, y'all. Bye.
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