This is a beautiful piece, John. In the last year of Dad’s life, he was in the early stages of dementia. He lived with me, and I was his caregiver. I’d take him to “outings” at a senior center for activities like art, dancing and playing cards.

Oh, how my Dad loved to dance. Swaying to the music, and he’d always be more lucid on those days. It’s hitting me in a funny place, though. Because how ironic that we live in a world that devalues art as a whole. You know?

When schools need to cut spending, the art programs are always the first to be cut. And so many of us that had artistic dreams were admonished by loving family who told us that art is no way to make a living.

There’s some irony in knowing that the very arts that we give so little value to end up being that which will save us.