Andrés with his grandmother Sofía when they met again
As a boy, Andrés Serebrenik had a magical relationship with his grandmother Sofía, but time, family disputes and his (his) ego had kept them apart. He approached them again when they told him that she had Alzheimer's and was dying, so lost.
I'm going to start telling this story as if it were a story for children. Listen, it's the story between a grandson and his grandmother.
From Infobae
Once upon a time there was a little boy who grew up very close to his grandmother. The Grandmother Sofia -so it was said- had something special: he knew how to do magic.
Every time the baby's parents went on a trip and had to take care of them, magic happened. When the baby was distracted, the grandmother would open a window, make a surprised face, and tell him to run and look under her pillow. The baby ran: a new book full of books always appeared under his pillow. Asterix.
They had invented a word for what was happening: instead of saying “Magic!” They said “Majalaia!”
The story continues, although it spans a few pages sadBecause the baby grows, so does the grandmother and the Magic, there's nothing left.
The boy starts working while watching TV; the little colorful mirrors make him dizzy. Grandma begins to disappear.
Andrés with his grandmother Sofía
Music
Grandma Sofía was soon to be 93 years old and had the beginning Alzheimer. She sat poised, exhausted in a wicker rocking chair, and had a forlorn look in her eyes.
The woman had died Four decades of eternal sadness. Her husband Bernardo died in the 1980s and she had filled out her life empty with his grandchildren, but when they grew up and moved away, the ground opened up beneath his feet.
The grief had made her stop cooking and dancing. There was nothing left of the chocolate brownies. Not so much about the grandmother who danced exuberantly at Andrés' bar mitzvah.
“I would sit next to her and say to myself “You’re an idiot, you missed your grandmother.”“He doesn't recognize you anymore, he's going to die.” She held my hand, looked at me and I started to cry. The feeling was that he was telling me “That’s it, I’m leaving, keep what you can.”
But Andrés kept playing.
He played and sang “Hava Nagila,” a Jewish classic. At first the grandmother told her “enough”, “go out”, “be quiet” until what you see in the picture happened. first chapter of a series.
Andrés plays the accordion, the grandmother looks at a fixed point. Suddenly he looks at her, she looks back and starts singing. Grandma Sofía shakes his hand, caresses him, gives him a kiss: come back.
“It was like in that moment it was…revealed. Like you put WD-40 on something that's stuck and it works again,” he continues.
Andrés began recording these meetings just to have a record of her. They played a TV show together, in which she used a hairbrush as a microphone, one of those round brushes you use for blow-drying.
“I felt like everything that was happening was stimulating her. And If I kept pulling on this thread, my grandmother would keep coming back.. I realized that he loved something and that he wanted to record himself, sing and greet the audience. We started the program and he gave love advice, he liked to address an audience,” he smiles.
They played to make something Advertisement: for example a “Call now” to find a girlfriend for Andrés, “which is good, although his nose is a bit long.”
Andrés went there almost every day for two years. He then uploaded some videos to his social networks, so many people started watching recognize them.
So they were invited to an interview on public television, and she, who loved afternoon soap operas, ended up standing in front of the television with her walker and watching herself.
Making music with the older adults who are part of their new life
The new life
When the deterioration had already devastated her, they took her to the Ledor Vador nursing home in Chacarita. What happened in the last days of the grandmother's life ended change the entire course of Andrés' life.
“I wanted to play the accordion in the nursing home, but I almost always slept. He then left his room and ended up touching the others, sometimes with a family member.”
The others weren't just old people. Grandma Sofía was already in palliative care, so these were people who were very unwell. The nurses, the psychologist and the facility managers took notice: “They told me “You start playing and they connect.”'Suddenly, as if something happened'.”
Then they called him from the nursing home so that he could do the same with the usual accordion. According to other institutions. Until the years began to pass and Andrés looked at himself again: His new life no longer revolved around television, but around people in their 80s and 90s.
So why not think of new things? And he started throwing out ideas.
“There is a group in a home that I met during the pandemic. When I first saw them, they didn't speak and each was standing at the door of his room. like that, looking down. We put together a choir with them. We called them “Shleppers,” meaning “The Crotos”. Now we do shows and they sing, you have to see each and every one of them with their little folder…”.
At another nursing home he put together a band in the style Buena Vista Social Club: Regina, 91 years old, plays the piano. Héctor, 88, clarinet. Raquel sings couplets and plays drums with a Northern Box. Andrés accompanies her with the accordion.
In another, he thought, “Hey, there are things older people don't do because it's hard to get to them.” Then the thought of doing it occurred to him a garden that is wheelchair accessible: small detail.
Read more at Infobae
