TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR SINGALONG
Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland Pack Up Your Troubles Ain't We Got Fun? America Over There Mary's A Grand Old Name Harrigan Annie Laurie Aura Lee Take Me Out to the Ballgame Cuddle up A Little Closer	School Days I'm Always Chasing Rainbows Shine On Harvest Moon Beautiful Dreamer Home Sweet Home She'll Comin' Round the Mountain Yellow Rose of Texas For He's A Jolly Good Fellow Auld Lang Syne Battle Hymn of the Republic

Excerpts from the Book

Ruby and Raymond were kind of set in their ways. They had been married for fifty-one years, after all, and they had fashioned a routine for their lives, which they really liked.

Things had changed a little when Raymond retired. They tinkered with the routine of their lives. They adjusted just a little, but not too much! They liked things to stay consistent!

They were rather resistant to change, yet when it came time to, at the urging of family and friends, they did make a move to The Manor Retirement Community. They felt that they were being quite adaptive and cooperative!

At first they had a little cottage on the grounds of the Manor Community, which they loved. They fixed it up to look as much like the big house they had owned on Brown Street as possible, though a great deal of paring down was necessary.

In their little retirement cottage, they were pleased to be able to go on with their lives much as always. They followed the routine that they loved, and had followed pretty much all of their lives together.

When they needed to go to town, they climbed into
their black, 1967 Chrysler New Yorker, which Raymond still kept gleaming and spotless. Raymond loved driving "his baby" and Ruby loved to ride and watch the scenery go by, as they glided along the road, smoothly, like a boat in the water. The New Yorker was wonderful to drive, and delightful to ride in, just as it always had been. Raymond made sure of this!

It was terribly difficult, some years later, when Raymond had to give up driving his beloved automobile. The doctor said that neither of them should be driving anymore. Friends and family gently urged them to give up the car too.

Again, they agreed- reluctantly.

The car sat day after day, gleaming in the carport, begging to be driven. "Ah well…" they thought, and followed the doctors orders.

They even agreed, when the social worker suggested that in addition to giving up the car, a move to the apartments in the main building of the Manor Community would be advisable. "Just in case you need a bit more help," the well-meaning social worker had said.

© 2003 Michael D. Purvis.