Vernon was not in his room when I arrived today. I thought, he’s either been sliding himself out of bed again and needs to be watched in the hallway or—hope against hope—he is having Physical Therapy. When I asked, the nurse told me: “It’s neither. He’s in the dining room.”

“Dining room?”  Don’t the people here realize he isn’t able to eat yet?

As I got closer to the dining area, I began to hear the sounds of a party:  Music, singing, clapping.  It had slipped my mind that today was a holiday.  Veteran’s Day!

I turned the corner and noticed first a few helium balloons tied to the back of wheelchairs…and then, a blinding flash from a gold-lamé jacket that could only be worn by one man.

ELVIS PRESLEY!

Elvis was indeed in the building.  This little dusty hide-away full of disabled elders…and the King had come to them! I guess this nursing home isn’t so shabby after all.

I found Vernon semi-reclined at the back of the room. He was happy to see me and held my hand while we watched the show. He seemed much better today, more relaxed and able to hold a conversation. He clapped at every song and kept saying how great it was.  I asked him: “Don’t you find it kind of surreal?”

“Yeah, it is a little weird. But it’s great!”  I was pleased to see how much he enjoyed it.  Not quite as much as some of the ladies in the crowd, though, who were ready for full-on kisses when Elvis made his way to them.  I can only imagine what would happen if the nursing home booked a Tom Jones impersonator!

During the performance, I mentioned to Vernon that it would be great to bring my good camera and start photographing events like this. He agreed, and then I told him how I’d been taking photos of him all along, documenting his progress. “Really?” He said. “Thank you.” (We’ll see if he still feels grateful later…)

Then I had the courage to tell him what I’d been wanting to share with him for a long time now.

“Do you remember how I used to sit and wonder how I could make a photo documentary series? How I used to come up with these interesting (to me) ideas: people I wanted to photograph that were living fascinating, different (to me) lifestyles? Maybe homeless people, maybe bingo-ladies, frustrated circus clowns,  foreign gypsies. After all, I grew up mesmerized by the human-interest stories in National Geographic.

And you would always tell me: ‘Don’t look so far out of your own life. You need to look at what is close to you, that’s how you get honest photographs, real stories.  These are the people—your friends and family— who will trust you, who will let you and your camera into their lives without feeling self-conscious. Anyway, even if it seems normal to you, your world might be really strange and fascinating to someone else.  You’ve got to stop looking elsewhere to be inspired. Start documenting the stories happening around you, not somewhere else.'”

About this time, the manager of the facility came around with her little point-and-shoot camera.  She said hello to us and asked if we were having a good time. Of course we were.  She told us the care-home celebrates every holiday and that there would be a lot more parties coming up: Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years…  And she’d just convinced Elvis to return in a month! I told her I was a photographer and would it be okay for me to take some pictures?  She seems thrilled with the idea.  Vernon was so sweet to chime in: “She’s very good.”  Thanks for the vote of confidence, hubby

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We’ll see where it all goes.  But I will tell you one thing I learned today.  Nursing home people LOVE a party. They love to be entertained. And they have pure appreciation. Even Vernon, a born cynic, enjoyed a bit of Elvis.

If there are any frustrated Creatives out there, let me tell you this is a GREAT audience.  I’m feeling a bit more inspired myself.