Dear Friend,

I’ve just returned from an unexpected trip after my father was hospitalized for congestive heart failure. He’s been dealing with this for a while, along with multiple other surgeries and health issues, but this time his heart went into AFib https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/atrial-fibrillation/what-is-atrial-fibrillation-afib-or-af while he was driving. My Dad’s a tough old bird. He braked in time. My mother, who is dealing with dementia symptoms and not doing all that well herself physically, managed to drive to the emergency room with Dad coaching her as best he could. She hadn’t driven in about four years. She got them there safely.  

I canceled every voice and piano lesson for just over a week and got on a plane.

Dad had his 85^th birthday in the hospital in Watertown, South Dakota, and two days later he, me and Mom had Thanksgiving dinner there. It was surprisingly good, especially on Dad’s low sodium diet.

Dad is out of the hospital now with a heart functioning at around 35% capacity, perhaps less. After medications to calm his racing heart didn’t work, an electric shock treatment got his ticker ticking regularly again.

Yet it’s only a matter of time, and we all know this. We all know this with our own lives, our voices. Mom is no longer able to take care of herself, and Dad can no longer be her caretaker. Even looking into the options is challenging. Painful. Difficult.

My parents have been married for over 56 years.

I will write their love story in an upcoming post.

For now, check out one of my most-viewed videos to help you rock your next speech. Thank you for reading, for being a friend, student, client.

Five Tips to Give Your Speeches Vocal Variety: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd6fKLlop08&t=20s

Please spread the love and pass this along to a friend!

Love Your Voice and Voice Your Love,

Laura

Lake Oswego’s Transformational Voice® Teacher (Transformational Voice® is a registered trademark of Transformational Voice® Training Institute, LLC, and Linda Brice.)