I was born in Brooklyn in 1960. From an early age, I loved to read, write, and play piano. My first piano teacher was a music therapist, and she inspired me in the way she worked with children with autism using music to aid them in communication. In college, I did what everyone else did at the time – majored in computer science. I did minor in music, and that was the continuation of my true love. I married young, moved cross country to Los Angeles, and have been living in LA for past forty years. My dream to become a music therapist was sparked after I lost a baby in infancy and music served to heal me through my trauma. I remembered Miss Miller, my childhood piano teacher, and went back to school here in California to earn my degrees in music, music therapy, and eventually a Master’s degree in Special Education. During this time, I raised my children, gave piano lessons, and taught music appreciation in local elementary schools. When teaching English and writing in high school, I used music to explain concepts to my students.
I’ve seen in my own life and in that of others how music can influence healing of body and mind. How it promotes relaxation, acts on pain receptors to reduce pain, and other proven benefits. As a board certified music therapist since 1995, I’ve worked with children and adults who have developmental disabilities helping to improve language for people with autism, Down syndrome, and non-verbal learning disabilities.
Currently, since 2007, I’ve worked primarily with individuals in hospice care. At the company where I’m employed, Roze Room Hospice, I work as part of an interdisciplinary team of medical professionals; and music is an important part of the care plan for each of these individuals at the end of their lives. I play piano, harp, keyboard, and percussion instruments to help my clients achieve goals of relaxation, reminiscence, and socialization.
My husband and I are blessed with sweet grandchildren. I love when the house fills up with my grandchildren. I relish the times when I get to contend with the adorable kids, messy house and fingerprints on the walls. I’ve been blogging since 2012 about my experiences as a grandmother, an empty-nester, and a mother-in-law. My writing is sprinkled with personal stories and lessons culled over the years. My goal in sharing these stories is so that my readers can chuckle while gaining nuggets of lessons from some of my experiences. By reading my posts, my readers can relate and realize that we all are more similar than different. We, as women in this stage of middle-age, empty nest, sandwich generation or what-have-you --- have so much in common. If we can celebrate our joys and challenges with love and camaraderie, we can all grow together.
I began to write about my grandmother experiences, publishing them in local and national magazines, when my oldest son and daughter-in-law were expecting their first child. Since then, my husband and I have been blessed with more grandchildren. Mazel Tov! It’s a Bubby! my book, is a collection of stories from magazines and articles, plus supplemental stories. I’ve also been published in Binah Magazine, Yated Ne’eman, Ami Magazine, The Jewish Press, and in online magazines such as www.aish.com, www.nashimmagazine.com jewinthecity.com and www.chabad.org.
Several of my essays were published in an anthology for middle-aged women, entitled To Fill the Sky with Stars: Women Explore Their Midlife Challenges and Triumphs. (available on Amazon).
My original blog, Bubby Joys and Oys began with musings and insights on finding one’s way as a new and evolving mother-in-law and grandmother and now continues here.
