I heard a great story about an elderly gentleman who leaned over to kiss his aged wife good morning, only to hear her declare, "Don't touch me! I'm dead!"

"What are you talking about? You're fine. We're both lying here talking to one another. You're not dead!"

"Oh no, I'm dead. I'm sure of it."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I woke up this morning and nothing hurts!"

Morning can be a really tough time for our aging loved ones struggling with Alzheimers or other forms of dementia. As both the body and the mind effectively reset after a night of sleep, many may need help to “break through the morning fog of forgetfulness that can often cause them agitation and fear.”

Why am I here? How did I get here? How am I supposed to get through this day? These and other questions--not to mention feelings of loneliness, abandonment, even anger--all combine to make the common admonish to “rise and shine” seem nearly impossible.

One innovative elder-care program in the Bronx, NY, is piloting a new program which seeks to allay some of this anxiety and to help patients set the mood to have a much calmer, more satisfying day. The Hebrew Home of Riverdale is inviting patients’ loved ones to film “Good Morning” video messages filled with comforting words, reassurances that they are loved, that they are not alone, that they are cared for. The videos are to be laced with memory triggering personal anecdotes, and, of course, the faces and voices of those who have lovingly and faithfully been by their sides.

"You've got a group of people with dementia who don't really grasp the nature and purpose of their surroundings, or the circumstances that compelled them to be there," said Dr. Robert Abrams, a geriatric psychiatrist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. "Consequently they're alone and at sea, and feel frightened and even abandoned by family."

The videos were actually inspired by none other than the pop culture, classic movie 50 FIRST DATES starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. In the movie, Barrymore’s character suffered traumatic brain injury and lost her memory. Sandler’s character made her “Good Morning” videos to play upon waking in an effort to put her day—indeed, her life—in proper context.

Charlotte Dell, director of social services at the Hebrew Home comments, "We're looking to see if we can set a positive tone for the day. … What better way to start the day than to see the face and hear the voice of someone you love wishing you a wonderful morning?"

For many patients, the videos are helping them to accept that their life and circumstances are not actually reeling out of control (though they might seem that way). They are helping them to achieve a greater sense of peace and security.

Retirement. It's meant to describe that time in life which we call the golden years. But the word doesn't really fit the notion. Rather, it implies the notion of giving up (think of a tennis player who "retires" from a match because of injury or fatigue), or lying down ("Are you ready to 'retire' for the night?"), or saying goodbye ("Here's your gold watch. See ya later").

At the age of 55 or 60, very few people consider themselves "elderly" and ready to give up, lie down, or say goodbye.

The latter half of the 20th century, the Japanese faced a bit of a cultural revolution when it came to defining their retirement years. We could use to take a page out of their playbook:

There was a Japanese word that was used to describe people in their 50s and 60s. The word was ``rojin.`` Its English translation was ``aged person.``

People in Japan began objecting to the word ``rojin.`` Japanese men and women in their 50s and 60s pointed out that many people in their 50s and 60s hold full-time jobs because of extended retirement age policies. They also pointed out that Japanese life expectancy has risen to the late 70s. So what happened? Something deceptively simple--and absolutely brilliant.

The Japan Ministry of Health and Welfare announced a contest, open to anyone in Japan who wished to enter. The ministry agreed that ``rojin`` was no longer an appropriate word. The contest invited people to submit alternative words.

In the contest, 301,000 ideas were sent in by the Japanese people. A committee appointed by the ministry to choose the new word sifted through the entries. In the end, they came up with a winner.

The new word was ``jitsunen.`` In Japanese, ``jitsu`` means ``harvest`` or ``fruit,`` and ``nen`` means age. Thus, the new word ``jitsunen`` translates to ``age of fruition.`` So Japanese men and women who used to be dismissed as ``aged persons`` are now being described as persons in the ``age of fruition.``