Cadre Today: Family Ties

Hey. Hey. Good morning, Cadre. How are we doing on this fine Thursday? Hope you're doing good. If not, know that that is okay, too. We'll let some people move on into the room here. Good morning, y' all. Nice to see you coming in. How's everybody doing? Oh, Marisa J4427Amar. Alana. Nice to see everybody. How are we doing? Let me know in chat how this day is starting. If it's good, let me know what's good. If it's bad, let me know what's bad. I'm glad I'm here. I'm glad you are here. Speak wonder.

I know what I know and I care about you. It is Thursday here in the Cadre sphere. Smzobs, how are you, my friend? I love your smile. It's a little picture, right? You can see it, but I can see it and I appreciate it. Jerry, how are you doing? Nice to see you. Everybody, it is Thursday here in the Cadre sphere, which means, you know, going to see a lot of live streams around the idea of caregiving. And if you checked out the Cadre newsletter, and if you didn't get it, shoot me a message, I'll send it to you.

Ooh, Alana, I love that today is full of possibility. I love that on Thursdays we spend a lot of time talking about the act of caregiving. But this month, we're spending a lot of time talking about balance. And today I want to talk about one of the big A's that I always throw out there. Access. You know, I throw out access and agency and autonomy and all these. All these big A words. And what do they really, really mean? Well, let me tell you a story. I am the artistic director of Aladdin Kickin, Minnesota's premier senior rock ensemble, a non profit that is busting down barriers and redefining what it means to age.

And how do we do that? Well, we have a group of 33, 62 to 90 year olds who sing rock music because who sings rock music? Not a bunch of older, tired people, right? Actually, rock music is about busting down the ideas of what is normal and what is right and what is acceptable and expected. Guess what? The idea that once you reach a certain age, that you're supposed to be quiet, you're supposed to stop, you're supposed to sit, you're supposed to be alone. I don't know. 2 million seniors in the state of Minnesota, and well over 10% of them are going to struggle with depression and anxiety and how many of them are going to live lives in isolation and loneliness?

Yeah, we better go ahead and do something to give voices back to and remind people that their capacity is always what they foster it to be. So anyways, this group, it's their big week. They do their big shows, we open up. Our first big show is in six hours, 1:00pm Central Standard Time. But hey, we have a member. His name is Chuck. Chuck is 90 years old and Chuck's got health stuff. It's been a rough. It's been a rough season for him. And he fights. He's alive and he's kicking. He's got a wonderful wife named Carol who is also alive and kickin and care gives the heck out of Chuck.

But so does this whole group. This group makes sure that we create access for Chuck to rock. So what is access? It's creating the pathways that are needed for people to do the things that they are called to do. So Chuck's big number this year is ZZ Tops. Sharp Dressed Man. He's got some hearing issues. He's having to stay in a wheelchair throughout the show. It takes all things out of him. So guess what? We don't know from day to day, any of us, right? Everyone here and anybody, we don't know what we're going to be able to do or if our plans are going to fall through or if we're going to have to change or audible.

But most of us have more access than others. So here's the deal. For Chuck, we have a plan A all the way to a Plan Z. Plan A is Chuck's doing cartwheels across the stage and singing every single song and rocking and rolling the whole time. Plan Z is Chuck is empowered to not be present in the show. But all those letters in the middle are where we really start to create access. So when we get to Chuck's song, Sharp Dressed man, he's standing in a cloud of his brothers. It's the men's song, right?

It's a men's song. Oh, Alana, I didn't know you funny girl. Plan zz Love it. But it's all those letters in the middle where we start to create access for those people that we care for. So the most common letter, let's call it Plan M is this. Chuck is surrounded by his cloud brothers in this group and they sing with him. When Chuck gets to his solo verse, he's got Dwayne and Dave literally right next to him pumping lyrics into his ears that he's not hearing well through. So Chuck can know right where we are in the song.

And so Chuck can do his deal right after the song. Along with rock and rolling, every member tells stories. And this year, it's the reunion tour. So everybody's talking about reunions in their life. Chuck talks about when he had polio when he was a kid. And so he didn't get to play baseball. He didn't get to do the things he wanted to do in summer. So his friend brought him up to the lake, and Chuck met this. This. This young woman that he had a liking for. Sooner or later, months after, she said, fine, I'll go on a date with you.

She was 15 at the time. Her name was Carol, the same Carol that he's married to today. This is the 15th year of Alive and kick. And Carol came up to me, he's like, 15 is a special number because that's how old I was when I met Chuck. This October, they're going to celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary. And every single d*** person in that audience gets to hear the story of polio leading Chuck to meeting Carol. And now, seven years later, Chuck's on stage singing Sharp Dressed Man. If we don't create access points, people don't get to have their voices be heard.

They don't get to have their passions be felt and seen. And that's one of the reasons why a lot of people get quiet, why a lot of people give up. So the people that you care give for in this world, what do they need from you that the world doesn't provide them for? Chuck, that's his brothers. That's a wheelchair. That's rock and roll. Breaking every single rule how we think things are supposed to be done. It's pretty cool. Here's Chuck's verse. Top coat, top hat I don't worry cause my wallet's fat Black shades, white gloves Looking sharp and looking for love they come a running just as fast as they can Cause every girl's crazy bout a shop dress man if you're in the Twin Cities this weekend, we have a 1pm show today, 1pm show tomorrow, 4pm show on Saturday, 2pm show on Sunday.

Tickets are available. I'd love for you to be my guest. I'll buy your ticket, y' all let me know. Have a good one and I'll see you tomorrow. Peace.