My 95 year old step-father, Jim,  continues to work day by day to get better following his fall and subsequent brain surgery a few weeks ago.  The days are filled with various types of exercises, mental, physical, and just plain hard.  His son, Jay and I,  were trying to think of something to cheer Jim up after a particularly trying day of rehab.

I suggested a book or a DVD and then we both came up the idea to have mom and Jordyn create a video.  Wow, what an afternoon I had trying to create that cinematic masterpiece.

I had this idea to take mom down to the dining room where she would look endearingly into the camera (in this case, my Blackberry phone-which she could not even fathom was a camera).  Then she would be prompted to tell Jim that she loved him and missed him.  This would be followed by her telling him to get well soon.  Then I would pan the camera to Jordyn who would be standing by with elderly resident Bernice and they would take off in their version of the Texas Two-Step.  The dancing between Bernice and Jordyn actually has been going on for some time.  Bernice is a former nurse who loves children and Jordyn always enjoys the attention she gets when she and Bernice take the floor.

After the great dance, Jordyn would turn to the camera and tell her great-grandpa Jim to get well.  That part actually went pretty well.  The rest of my plan not so much.

When Jordyn and I got there, mom was already upset because Jim had just been there and he wasn’t sick or in the hospital.  She did not understand why we would send a video to him if he was just there! How ridiculous of me!

Wait, don’t get confused!  Yes, Jim is in a hospital in Arizona but mom in some delusion of the day thought he had just been there visiting with her in her in Texas.  I told her Jim was in Arizona. Jordyn told her that Jim had not been there, that he was sick and in the hospital.  She did not believe us.  I mean, she really, absolutely, was convinced that he had just been there.

Jordyn proceeded to help mom get her hair combed, get her make-up on and get ready for the video.  Each time I tried to get her to repeat the lines for the video, she went off on a rant about Jim and how he had just been there.  I guess her point was, we did not need to make a video because she had just seen him.

We got her dressed, finished the make-up and headed to the dining room.  Bernice showed up right on time.  We explained the plan to make the little video.  First, Bernice asked me if this was like that little Micheal Jackson thing that had just come out on the Letter TV station (M TV??).  I told her it was certainly similar.  But she was thrilled to be part of the show!

Here is the link to the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zqT8Si7iBA

While it did not go at all like I planned, it is still cute.  Mom doesn’t want to tell Jim she loves him as she starts to tell me again-I just need to believe her.  I cut her off (I am sorry and not proud of my behavior) and went to the dancing of Jo and Bernice.

Well, we tried.  Jim, we all send you our love and best wishes that you are back to your terrific self soon!  Maybe next time, my video wishes to you will be a little better directed.