Peekaboo

"Peekaboo" is a collection of essays and poems that represent the various levels of awakenings Nurse Bob has experienced in his years as an entertainer in memory care homes.

As an entertainer in memory care communities, it is both Nurse Bob's joy and their job to seek out the triggers that bring forth social and emotional behaviors in those less able to demonstrate these feelings. Nurse Bob openly encourages mistakes, lost words, off-key singing, and shoutouts. Like any entertainer, Nurse Bob is selectively nuanced in their performance to trigger desired responses in my audience. Each performance is like an ongoing creative experiment into what pathways Nurse Bob can take to elicit an awakening in their friends; friends who often seem unaware of their surroundings. To some, at times, their actions during a performance may appear quite odd, but that is the point. While playing music in dementia communities, Nurse Bob has experienced first-hand many levels of awakenings or miracles. This book is their story.

Nurse Bob grew up in a large family. The youngest of seven children, he experienced all of the crazy situations that accompany the extended family home situations. Elder grandparents, uncles and aunts, babies, cousins, lots of sibling friends and others contributed to the chaos of the typical day. Christmas and holidays were especially joyful. Nurse Bob is a retired nurse. He picked up the guitar at 43 years old, and by 53 he booked his bluegrass band at a couple of Nursing Homes. He experienced the result of the interplay of music and the residence, so he began booking himself as a solo act at Nursing Homes. And he left nursing at 58 years old to pursue playing music full-time. Two years later, he realized he had fallen in love with and playing for people living inside memory care communities. He found that miracles occurred between human beings who sang and played inside the joy shared music. During this time, he journaled a few of the events that provided him with such a great pleasure. He saw how the music and friendly behaviors drew people into the center of the room. In other words, into the present. And since most Memory communities are usually, "lockdown communities," he found it fascinating that interactive entertainment provides a platform for freedom to all who sing. Performing over 360 performances a year, he says he has never walked off a stage he did not entirely love. And that's a miracle in itself.