My dad, Gene Adams, two days shy of his 90th birthday
I am so happy to be posting again! I left St. Louis on September 6 to drive to 2,000 miles to Walla Walla, Washington, to help my father celebrate his 90th birthday. (He was born 11 Sep 1930.) I drove because I didn’t want to risk transmitting the coronavirus to him and I felt more in control of who I interacted with driving than flying. On the way, my MacBook Pro went belly up and I ended up having to send it in to Apple for repair. I wasn’t up to trying to blog from my phone, so that’s why I haven’t blogged for a couple of weeks.
In any case, my computer has been returned good as new (it had a swollen battery that had to replaced) and I’m delighted to be back to blogging.
I had a lovely visit with my father, whom I hadn’t seen since February, and I’m so glad I made the trip. I took four days/three nights in each direction and I drove alone. It was amazing to see this part of the country. I spent the night in two states, South Dakota and Montana, that I’d never been to before. That brings my total number of states visited to 48! I listened to lots of podcasts and I even managed to do a little cemetery research on the way home. (More on that in a future post.)
What I wanted to write about today is the birthday gift I gave my father. At 90, he doesn’t need stuff. Because of COVID, we couldn’t have a birthday party. So, at the suggestion of a friend, I reached out to dozens of people from various parts of his life, asking each of them to send me a 30- to 60-second video wishing him a happy birthday and marking the occasion any other way they wanted to.
I used Trello to track my invitations and responses, which made it really easy. It was such a joy to communicate with these folks and receive their wonderful videos. I ended up with forty videos. I purchased an iPad for him so he can watch the videos when he wants. (He’s a Luddite with no computer and no internet access and no desire for either.)
I put the individual videos on the iPad and also used iMovie on my Mac to string them all together into one video, which I put on the iPad. That turned out to be the way he likes to watch it most. Finally, I bought a lightning-to-HDMI adapter so that he can watch the video on his TV. I did everything manually and found it quite easy, but since then, I have found out about a service that will send out the invitations and the compile the videos for you for a small fee. It’s called VidHug.
He was blown away. Because he’s a Luddite I think he thinks it was a lot harder for me to do than it actually was, though I tried to set him straight. The hardest part was finishing the project without a computer! He really enjoyed hearing from so many loved ones. The video was just plain heartwarming.
This is the best gift I’ve ever given (I’m not great at gift giving) and my father appreciated it so much. I mention it here in case you have an elderly relative (or, really, anyone) you’d like to honor this way. It seems particularly helpful these days when travel and in-person gatherings are so difficult.
Can I give you a big virtual hug please! It’s my dad’s 90th birthday on 26th December and though we’d love to have a family get together, the covid regulations in UK would make this difficult. The video gift would be a perfect way to mark the occasion….. I’d better get cracking on this though, you know how slow some people are. Did you send them any instructions on format or lighting? We used to do this kind of thing in work and found it important to tell people whether to hold the camera vertical/horizontal for example
Gosh, I’m so glad my post was helpful and timely! I gave no instructions. Just a time limit. And the the quality was variable. And it didn’t matter. The people who used phones tended to send portrait videos and the iPad people did landscape and it didn’t matter. Fwiw, I reached out to the first person on August 13 with a September 1 deadline and then did a reminder the Friday before September 1. There were a few who didn’t participate, but almost all who did submitted on time. This is definitely an area to let go of perfectionism!
Good luck with yours! If I can be helpful, let me know. I can share my simple Trello board with you, if you’d like.
excellent work, Janine. You’re a wonderful daughter. This made your dad’s year, I’m sure.
Aw thanks, Randy. I think it may have been the highlight of his year!
Janine. I’m so glad you had a safe trip and were able to spend that time with your dad. That was such a special gift. I’m sure it will bring him pleasure whenever he watches it.
Thanks, Vickie. I miss you. I hope we’ll be able to research together again before too long!
What a great idea! I’m glad you were able to spend some time with your dad.
Thanks, Susan!
What a wonderful, meaningful gift you gave your father, Janine. And a really personal one, too. I am sure your father loves watching the video. Kudos to you on a job well done!
Thanks so much, Christy!
Congratulations to your Dad! What a wonderful gift! So inspiring and some thing he will always have. Our dad’s have the same birthday 11 September, though my dad was born in 1923, and has now passed. I loved your story.
I love that our fathers have the same birthday, Maria! That gives us a special connection. Thanks for your comment!
Janine, this was a wonderful story and so inspiring on so many fronts — not the least of which is how GREAT your dad looks at 90!
He does, doesn’t he? His older sister looks great too!
Really excellent, in so many ways! Good for you, and for your dad, and many blessings be yours!
Thank you so much, Louise!
That is so brilliant and lovely Janine. My Dad, who passed at 99 and 9 months a year ago, absolutely loved it when we made the kind of connections you describe. Great to do. It will live with you forever.
Ron
Thanks for your kind note, Ron. How wonderful that your father lived to be almost 100. Sympathies on his passing a year ago.