Sloop John B

OJ stealing ice cream while we watch the Iron Maiden tour documentary, "Flight 666."

Sylvie is fast asleep in the middle of our bed safely positioned on two mattress pads with the TPN backpack, a new My Little Pony activity book, Princess 'ring' lip glosses and butterfly stickers beside her. Sylvie doesn't travel light. Before sleep, I read to her a 'potty' book and a folk music book that my brother gave her signed by the author whose name I cannot remember. Sylvie loves the song/story about the fox which to me is gruesome and then another equally gruesome one about a man bit on the heel by a snake. I haven't played the accompanying CD which I should probably do because I make up the tunes as I go along. The only song I know in the book is "Sloop John B" and I have to admit, despite working in the music business my entire life, I thought it was written by The Beach Boys from their "Pet Sounds" album. It wasn't until this book that it dawned on me there might be something more to it. Fast forward to 2 weeks ago when we went to see Dan Zanes play maritime songs at the Muesum of Natural History and he too performed "Sloop John B." And in a meeting today in which we were reviewing tracks on an upcoming soundtrack that I'm working on, sure enough was the first song listed. SO, in case you are wondering, the song is a traditional West Indies tune about a sunken boat made popular by The Kingston Trio who adapted it from a version in poet Carl Sandburg's 1927 songbook The American Songbag. Dan Zanes released an album celebrating sea music on which it also appeared. My favorite song on that album is "Strike The Bell."

We sailed on the sloop John B
So hoist up the John B's sail
See how the mainsail sets
Send for the Captain ashore
I want to go home, O let me go home
Please let me go home
I feel so broke up - I want to go home


We are almost home indeed. We've had a "VIP"parking pass that has allowed us to park for free at the hospital all these months. Truth be told, we had a second but we lost it some time ago. As you can imagine, after over 100 daily trips to the hospital and presenting the pass to the parking attendants over and over and over again, it's tattered. At this point, one of the women who works there actually exits the little booth to say hello to us and let us know if my parents have been by. She always asks about Sylvie and sends us on our way with a "God Bless." The other mostly guys who work there are pretty stoic. They read the New York Daily News or the NY Post and grab our pass as if they have never seen us before. When we were leaving the hospital yesterday, a new woman was working the parking booth. She saw our shredded pass, looked over at Michael and asked how "the patient" is doing. Obviously the only people who have this special pass are there for very unspecial reasons. But we were leaving because technically it could be Sylvie's last time as an inpatient!

Once again, Michael took off work today so that I could go to work. He and Sylvie had a great day, the highlight being a ride on the carousel at the mall. Sylvie told me that she was scared at first, had fun and wants to go tomorrow. This is a big deal for her.