My guy wanted to send a thank you video to Doyle Lawson for his video greeting.

So I said, sure, and took a video of him with my iPhone.

But he struggled to speak, repeating many words and not making a lot of sense.

He asked to watch the video so I played it for him.

After he watched it he said, with total clarity, “That can be improved upon.”

He said it with the authority of a college professor giving out honest feedback to an underperforming student.

So we recorded another take.

This time he still struggled, but was able to say, “Doyle Lawson, Doyle Lawson. Thank you for… listening, sending your music, sending your music.”

He approved his new version and I sent it off to Doyle’s band leader, the dobro player.

Then we listened to some more Doyle Lawson gospel.

Then I played for him all the funny videos I have been saving from Facebook. He grinned quite hard and could almost laugh. Some we watched a few times.

When the dog wags his tail, his life is worth living. It’s the same signal when a person can still smile.