Videos from the Assisted Living Facility

I have been considering using my action camera for some projects, so today I had to find it and clean it out.

While my dad was dying, I shot a few videos of him for the future. We would sit outside at the assisted living facility, and he talked about whatever he wanted.

I didn’t really want to see these videos, but I had to look at them to see what I was dealing with, so I am watching all of them before moving them to the PC.

I thought it would be worse than it is. It’s sad to see him in that condition again, but there are good things about the videos. He said all sorts of nice things about me, and he affirmed his new faith in God repeatedly.

It’s good to see that I was pleasant to him and that I asked him a lot of things about his care and so on. I’m glad I didn’t just sit there and stare at the clock. I wish I could have done more for him, but eventually you have to accept the past as it is and live in the future.

The videos end 11 days before his death. I recall that he had several days when he was not up to visiting, and I probably forgot the camera once or twice.

The videos are short because the camera works off of an app on my cell phone. Various things can cause the phone to interrupt the video. I had to keep turning the camera back on. I have an old phone I plan to use as a remote in the future. No one will call me on that one to interrupt.

I think I did okay. I had no help, and I have enough video to give a good picture of his condition and our relationship.

Once I get the files moved from the camera and deleted from the card, I’ll think about what I want to film. I don’t know whether I’ll go through with it or not, but at least I preserved the videos of my dad.

I’m very glad I shot these videos. I won’t get to see him again until the marriage of the lamb in heaven. It’s good to have video of the good times you’ve shared with older people. They will give you peace later on. They will help you to think less about the bad times.