Memories are made of this

In the exercise class I am taking, we end almost every session with a song. Loss of voice is very common among PD folk. Today being Veteran's Day, our instructor thought we needed to sing something patriotic. She chose You're A Grand Old Flag for our exercise. First, the class takes turns reading one line each. Then, in unison, we all sing it without words..i.e. ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah, etc.

Finally, we get to sing the words at the top of our lungs. Now I can't get the song out of my mind. There is only one problem:

In 1976, our country celebrated its 200th birthday. We happened to be traveling in California on July 4th, the actual day for the big celebration. Our children had learned every possible patriotic song known to man in school that year and kept a steady stream of heartfelt music going for the family as we traveled.

At some point, it dawned on me that the words I was hearing Patty sing did not sound like the words coming out of everyone else's mouth.

Instead of singing "Forever in peace may you wave." She was singing "The hole in the freeway, the grave." Unfortunately, those are the words that stick in my mind when I sing this once loved song.