Mama whistling . . . her answer surprised me.

I came down to be with my mama who recently had a stroke and care for her while my brother had several trip already scheduled.  Spending time with mama has been a really great experience as we have talked on a variety of subjects over the last few months ranging from what makes you happy, loneliness, death of loved ones, and events in our family’s history.  

On my last several trips (over a couple years) to see her, I noticed how mama whistles as she does chores like cooking, putting dishes in the dishwasher, or shopping in the grocery store.  Just random notes or parts of songs I knew.  I've observed mama once in a supermarket when I heard her whistle, off key, "Strangers In The Night" in the produce section.  She went on and on, oblivious to everyone around at the time.  This made me want to assemble a troupe of whistlers "The Whistling Grandmas", who, dressed ala Mom circa 1960's, and whistled aimlessly through life.  "Appearing at bus stops and supermarkets near you.  8:00 B sharp (hehehe). 

When I returned to Alaska I started paying more attention to people in general and older people in particular to see if whistling was a common practice.  Years ago while growing up it was common to hear somebody whistle, young or old.  Young people usually don't whistle nowadays, perhaps because of the availability of music everywhere.

Now whenever I'm in a public place and I hear someone whistling, far more often than not it's a senior citizen.  I almost never hear younger people whistle.  Was whistling considered trendy in the 1940s and 1950s, or is there some other phenomenon that happens as you get older that makes you more inclined to whistle?

The majority of whistling I do hear from the oldster’s sounds like random notes and warbling, as if there was absolutely no attempt to sing a particular song.  It's not Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin; it's the senior citizen version of a kid bashing his fists on a Casio keyboard.  My daddy whistled and played a harmonica when I was young many night playing a couple of songs as he tucked us in bed.

It got me thinking that whistling is an ever available companion when working alone, walking alone, sitting alone or just BEING alone.  Whistling, like an ever faithful dog, never argues with you as to selection or ad-lib variation.  It allows one to enjoy melody and verse which is several stories above "yeh-yeh-yeh" and "shebop-shebop" from those old 50’s and 60’s songs.

With my mama and many older people who tend to lose their eyesight or have cataract problems could whistling be a form of sonar?  Sending vibrations out and back subtlety helping them find their way?  I don’t know but was a thought I had that might explain it.

When my sister and I were here several months ago we went to the grocery store with mama and after finding a couple bottles of wine for dinner my sister went off to a different part of the store when after a few minutes mama thought my sister was lost and started whistling and yelling for my sister trying to locate her.  We walked up and down several aisles before my sister hearing her whistle and calling for her came up and told mama that after she found the first item went for something else she remembered in a different part of the store.  A minute or so later as we headed to check out mama was whistling once again. 

So, could be, when you get to a certain age, you just don't care what people think, and want to hear tunes you don't hear anymore.

I asked her why she whistled so much and she laughed and told me because it felt good to her and that it deafened the ringing sounds in her ears. She said she had a tendency to whistle if it was quiet or no television or background noise was going.

I liked that answer, it made her feel good.  After surviving multiple cancers, strokes, and two husbands (21 years each) mama deserves to “feel good”.  

Whistling . . . it’s better than most doctors’ visits or medicine given these days.

Ice