They say home made gifts are the best gifts to receive. I agree!  Especially the ultimate Mother’s Day gift video testimonial of your love.

When I was going through my mom’s things after she passed away, I was moved to tears when I found a worn, dog-eared letter in her dresser that I had written to her many years before. It was a letter telling her how much I loved and appreciated her.  It went into quite a bit of detail –  specifics – as to why.  I had no idea how much that letter meant to her. I certainly did not know she had kept it for what must have been over 25 years.

In Toastmasters I suggest members devote the entire Competent Communication manual, which consists of 10 projects, to preparing an eight to ten-minute talk honoring someone important in their life.  That talk can be given at a club meeting with the guest of honor present, or videotaped to be shared later – or both.

So imagine the impact of that letter I wrote to my mom as a VIDEO.  A video of you sharing how much your mom (or grandmother) means to you, putting it on a DVD or uploading to YouTube. It can be unlisted on YouTube so the rest of the world cannot even SEE that the video exists, yet alone watch it. Today with the iPhone and Android Smartphone it is SO simple to tape a testimonial and then upload it to a social media site to share.  But it isn’t enough to say “I love and appreciate you.”  That’s nice. But specifics are SO much more meaningful – and make for a longer video.  You could talk about:

1)  Favorite fun memories

2) Favorite gifts – maybe even hold them up to be seen in the video (like the image above, you could hold up the storybooks you remember your mom reading to you as a child.)

3) Most meaningful times she helped you in a touch situation

4) Favorite vacations, holidays

5) What you respect in her as a person – her strengths, talents, virtues

Write down your list of things you want to say.  When you share STORIES of your memories you won’t need too much rehearsal.  But do rehearse it 3-6 times, then have it videotaped. It does NOT need to be perfect.  Matters of the heart do not require perfection.

I promise you, it will be one of the, if THE most, precious gift she has ever received. And one she can enjoy for the rest of her life.

Photo credit: By U.S. Navy photo by Cryptologic Technician 2nd Class Christopher T. Smith [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. The photo is of a mother who is in the service reading a story to her children and having it videotaped.