05x12 - Up In The Air...

[bunniefuu]

Jazz: previously on "I am jazz"...

Since the surgery, I've been wanting to expand my advocacy

Beyond the lgbtq plus community.

Nobody talks to me.

Do you think you're a good listener?

Yeah.

I want to create an escape for kids.

Jazz hands day camp.

It's so important that kids have a safe space

Where you can be your true self.

I'm doing this.

They took my stomach lining to create the vag*na.

Ahmir: I'm creeped out.

After everything that went down in new york...

Tara: he's not telling you the truth.

Get off the phone now.

Jazz: ...and ahmir acting distant...

Do you miss me?

Ahmir: um...

...it definitely makes me reevaluate our relationship.

Do you want to break up?

No, but I'm not ready

To commit to something fully.

I want to move so bad.

You guides are showing compromise.

Why don't you do a trial for a couple weeks?

Her th birthday is coming up.

She's an adult.

Now what am I gonna do with her?

Jazz: jolie kind of told me

I should do, like, a little trial run.

I don't really care.

It just feels like now is the time.

For me, it doesn't feel like it's the time.

To me, it feels like a disaster.

--Captions by vitac-- www.vitac.com

Captions paid for by discovery communications

♪♪

Jazz: today is my birthday, and I am officially years old.

I'm a legal adult now.

However, I still can't drink alcohol.

Hi. I'm here to buy lottery tickets.

-Okay. -Which ones are $.?

There's a lot of things that I'm able to do.

I have to register to vote, and I can buy a lottery ticket.

Who knows? Maybe I'll be lucky.

I'll get three of those.

Lottery tickets are nothing compared

To what I really want to do,

Which is to move out of the house.

Oh, happy birthday.

Thanks.

Take care. -Bye-bye.

I have been wanting my independence for so, so long.

It's nothing against my parents.

I love them so much, but I just feel like

I'm ready to take that step and be on my own.

My parents are not supportive of the idea of me moving out.

I feel like they're not giving me enough credit,

And I want them to be on my side with this.

So where'd jazz go?

I don't know.

Probably to get food.

Do I have the right to ask her where she's going

If she takes my car without permission?

I mean, to me, she's a baby,

But she's , so she's not a baby.

Can you believe jazz is ?

Don't remind me.

I definitely feel like

Now that we have everybody over ...

-It sucks! -...it's different.

She's another step closer to freedom

And independence and...

-And that's a good thing? -Well, she's...

You'd think she was in jail, like, being released

From these horrible, strict parents.

I'm sure you were perfect when you were .

You know what? I was pretty good.

-Hey! -Hey, jazz.

Look, I bought lottery tickets!

I could buy them on my own now,

So I'm a gambler.

-Oh, that's not good. -Oh, great.

Where'd you get them from? -Liquor store.

You went to a liquor store?

What, did you try to buy alcohol?

No.

I knew I was gonna win with my lucky number .

What did you win?

$, Baby! Yeah!

How much was the ticket?

It was a $. Ticket, so I doubled.

What is this dress? Oh.

It's a little showy.

I'm . I can wear what I want.

Jazz comes home with lottery tickets

As a sign of turning and showing off

That she's reached this milestone birthday.

And I'm thinking, "thank goodness

She didn't buy cigarettes."

What's next now that you're ?

Well, we've been talking about this

For a couple of years now,

But we always said when I was ,

That we'd go skydiving.

You're not worried about, like, splitting your vag*na open?

You think we should ask dr. Bowers or dr. Ting first?

Oh, yeah. I definitely think you need

Medical clearance on something like that.

Jazz: I've wanted to skydive my entire life.

You only fly in your dreams, and I want to fly in real life,

And last time I saw dr. Bowers,

She cleared me to do all physical activity.

Even if they say yes, I still have my reservations.

I think if not,

Then we'll just plan it out in the future.

That'll be cool, a family event.

So how's it going with the day camp?

Do you still have a lot of planning to do?

Yes, definitely.

There's still a lot of things to work out.

Jazz: I want to do a day camp for kids

Because I have a universal message of acceptance

And equality, and we all know it,

But you look at this world, and it's not practiced enough.

Do you know all the activities you're gonna do?

I mean, I have a good idea of what I'm gonna do, yeah.

I have never organized my own event before.

In the past, I have gone to groups and conferences,

But I really haven't been able to connect with kids personally.

I just really, really, really want to make sure

That kids show up to this.

My goal is to get at least kids,

Hoping to get, like, .

Jeanette: this is such a huge endeavor,

So it makes me nervous.

I don't think jazz has ever been

This intimately involved in organizing something.

It's not jeanette or greg hands day camp.

It's jazz hands day camp,

So I just hope she didn't bite off more than she can chew.

♪♪

♪♪

Jazz: you like my leggings?

I love them. They match your necklace.

Jazz: now that I've been cleared to do all physical activity,

I'm excited to resume an active, healthy lifestyle.

Ah.

Okay. Wait. Let me do it with you this time.

She has not squatted.

Of course it's gonna take a while until I'm back in shape,

But I'm getting more energy every single day,

And I just need to take it step by step.

How are things with ahmir?

Jazz: I don't know.

I feel like I don't like the idea of tying myself

Down at this point when I'm trying to, like,

Explore who I am and my sexuality.

Ahmir and I still text every now and then,

But we haven't had a full-blown call or facetime

Since we made our relationship more casual,

And I feel bad because I don't know

If I've given him a fair chance,

But honestly, I haven't had relationship experiences

In the past like he has.

I want to have that relationship experience, and once I do that,

Maybe I'll realize that what we had truly was special,

And I'll want to continue it.

You'll figure it out, I feel like,

And now you know what being in a relationship is like.

Yep.

And it's not that easy.

No, it isn't.

So how's the planning for your day camp?

I mean, I'm still figuring out the intricacies of it all,

Coordinating the event, so it's a process, but...

Yeah, it sounds pretty intense,

But I'm here to help you if you need,

Especially with little kids, 'cause I've always worked

With kids since I was in,

Like, middle school, so I'm here to help.

I mean, I'm really excited for this.

However, I feel like because I'm doing it on my own mostly

That I'm responsible

For how successful it ends up being.

What if no one shows up?

Have you reached out to anybody

That you know could help you

Gather people or anything? -Not really.

I haven't planned too much of it.

I feel like jessica would probably be good.

Jessica herthel is the coauthor

Of "I am jazz," the children's book,

And she has just been such an incredible support system

And ally for the past couple of years,

Reaching out to her is a great idea

Because she has three kids of her own,

And she's worked with youth many, many times,

And she could really be a huge help, so point for ari.

Whoa.

Calories?

-Yeah. -That's good.

It's called working out.

♪♪

Jeanette: do you think this is set up good?

Yeah, that's set up well.

So we have another call with dr. Bowers.

This time, it's to schedule my revision surgery.

Going through all of the complications

Changed the appearance of my vag*na,

So my revision surgery will make it more cosmetically appealing.

I'm really not ready to think about another surgery.

I know it's your vag*na, but it's my heart

That loves you that...

I like how you connected the two organs there.

"I know it's your vag*na, but it's my heart."

So are we gonna call her, or are we waiting for dad?

What are we doing? -We're waiting for dad.

Hopefully we are in the homestretch

When it comes to jazz and her surgery and her body

And all that kind of stuff,

But things have not really ever gone according to plan.

There was not supposed to be a third surgery

Or a second surgery, so I'll be happy

When it's all behind us.

-Hello. -Hi!

My favorite family.

Aw, you're so sweet.

I don't think I've spoke with you

Since you visited dr. Ting, right?

Yeah, well, that visit went really great.

Dr. Ting cleared me to do everything --

Bike, swim, jump, run.

You know, both jess and I have been on the same page.

Six months would be the minimum amount of time

That you want to wait from your initial surgery,

And the reason being is that the tissues

Have an ability to mature.

The inflammation and the swelling

All goes down sufficiently

That it makes the tissues amenable

To another surgical operation.

And although this final surgery will be quite minimal

Compared to what you've already been through,

It's still significant,

And it still involves some removing of tissue

And getting tissue to heal,

And that would mean that we could potentially do surgery

Sometime in january.

Happy new year!

What kind of plans do you have in the next few months?

Well, I want to go skydiving for my birthday because...

She's been so excited about it.

Wait, skydiving?

[ Laughter ]

Couldn't you just have said bowling?

Yeah, right.

So am I allowed to do it, or am I not?

Well, I mean... You know, if you're skydiving,

You land pretty hard on your tail.

I just don't want to risk any injury to the soft tissues

When we're so close to your final surgery.

I feel bad that jazz can't get to go skydiving

For her birthday, but selfishly, I am very happy

Because jazz has a man-made vag*na

That is very expensive.

[ Chuckles ]

I think it's good because i... It's not us saying no.

She's hearing it from the doctor,

And really, at the end of the day, it's the right call.

But by next summer, who knows?

-Yeah. There you go. -Next summer.

Jazz: I'm pretty bummed out that dr. Bowers

Did not give me the clearance to go skydiving.

This is what I was really looking forward to

For my th birthday, but it does make sense.

Well, happy birthday, jazz.

-Thank you. -Thank you.

Have a great rest of your evening.

-Bye. -Bye, dr. Bowers.

Bye. There she went.

That's super exciting that she said january.

That's, like, just around the corner, it feels like,

And before I know it, I'll get this cosmetic procedure,

And my vag*na will be beautiful,

And my life will be complete. Amen.

Yay! High five to that.

I'm probably gonna buy myself, like,

A one-month apartment just as a trial run.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait, wait, wait.

Jacky: I'd like her to slow down a little bit.

You know how you cure a ham?

She needs curing time.

♪♪

♪♪

Jacky: , and you need a birthday present.

I couldn't come up with a present on my own.

And I talked to grandpa about it,

And I couldn't come up with anything from grandpa,

So take me to where and what you want.

I'll keep where we're going a surprise to you.

Okay.

Grandma jacky wants to take me birthday shopping today,

And I have just the store in mind for this.

I wanted to go skydiving for my th birthday,

But we contacted dr. Bowers,

And she said that it probably isn't the best idea,

Considering I am just out of surgery.

Okay.

Well, do you have a second thought?

I'm planning on treating myself

To a birthday present.

I'm probably gonna buy myself, like,

A one-month apartment, and I'm gonna live there

And pay for it all on my own just as a trial run.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait, wait, wait.

You're buying yourself a one-month apartment?

It's gonna be, like, a vacation.

Whoo!

I'm just... I personally am not sure

What you're gonna accomplish in four weeks.

Jacky: jazz leaps before she looks,

And that worries me because she's lacking street smarts.

I'd like her to slow down a little bit.

You know how you cure a ham?

She needs curing time.

Let me ask you --

What are you looking for in this independence

That you're not getting at home? -It's obvious.

The second that you don't have parental control, you know,

Your life is completely different.

Oh, yeah.

I just want to escape and, like, start anew,

And I feel like that's what I need.

I do believe we raise a kid to the best of our ability.

We cut the cord and let them fly,

And the other half of what...

And this is all my saying, is sometimes it's fine,

And sometimes they crash and burn.

When it comes to jazz moving out,

I will not give her, "go, team! Go!"

Get out the pom-pom. "Go for it! Do"...

No, but I also won't say... "You shouldn't."

I can't. I don't have the right to do that.

I just try to stay neutral.

That's the best I can do.

-We're here, grandma. -We're here.

Where is here? Where are we?

It's a surprise.

Oh, my goodness.

It's a furniture store.

Wow. Oh, my goodness.

For my new apartment.

Ah-ha-ha-ha-ho-ho. Ooh.

Jacky: I don't think that greg and jeanette

Would appreciate my being here or whatever is gonna go on.

Look at all of this.

-Hi. Good afternoon. -Hi.

-Hi. -We're here looking for...

-Hi. -...furniture obviously.

-For whatever. -Sure.

Jacky: but buying jazz a birthday gift

Does not mean that I am going with it

Or not going with it.

I understand where you're coming from.

I understand where mom and dad are coming from.

As far as a gift from grandpa and i,

As you pick up things and look around here and so forth,

Love to get you something,

But find something that can go in your room now

Or if you move on out

To wherever you're moving on out to,

That will go with you.

All right. Let's look.

-Go. -These are cool.

Do think I should get some balls?

I don't know what that is.

They just like... You buy them and they look cute.

The thing is, the baskets to buy the balls in

Are so expensive.

-I love... -And that basket is $, too.

Put that down.

There is a budget.

I don't know. Maybe I should just get,

Like, some nice, little storage thing like this,

And I can put whatever I want in here.

Well, that's practical. Now, that's kind of tinny.

And I really like this pillowcase that I could put

Any pillow I want in here.

-[ Gasps ] -oh, grandma.

Okay. Okay. -Oh, grandma.

No, it wasn't me. It was this.

That would be some friggin' disaster.

Oh, it's not steady. -Let me see.

Yeah, that does not stand steady.

There we go.

Jazz: want to hand it to him, or try...

Now they're having sex.

I think I want to get this box, too.

Jacky: listen, you're only once.

Well, you've got some nice storage.

I'm comfortable with her choice on the items that she picked.

I didn't buy her any major thing that would have been used

If she were to truly take off

In an apartment and never look back.

I can't believe that you... Blows my mind.

Jazz: I know I have it good under my parents' roof.

I have been so blessed with the life I've had.

I have amazing parents who provide me

With everything that I need,

But now I want to start providing for myself.

-This was fun. -Take care.

-Thank you. -Fun store, really.

-Thank you, grandma. -Have a nice day.

Would you bring me here again?

-Yeah. -Maybe for my birthday.

♪♪

Man: hello. How can I help you?

-Hi. -Hi.

We are here to pick up a banner.

-A banner? -Yes.

-And the name? -Jazz.

The first step to having a day camp is a sign, of course.

Everybody needs a good banner.

-Go grab it for you. -All right. Thank you.

Jazz is no stranger to public speaking or advocacy,

But to my knowledge, this is her first time

Organizing an event from the ground up.

This really is quite an undertaking.

Are you excited for it?

Yeah, I'm really excited for it.

It's been stressful trying to coordinate everything,

But I don't know.

I'm hoping that it'll be a success.

What can go wrong?

A lot could go wrong.

What if people don't show up,

And there's not a good turnout?

Or what if all the activities fail,

And it's not fun, and it's awkward,

And people are like, "why are we here?"

There's just a lot to worry about.

How are you getting the word out?

-I did a post on social media. -Right.

And while there was a lot of positivity

And everyone seemed excited,

There were also some negative comments.

I could show it to you. Hold on.

All right.

Some person was like, "no one should let this happen.

You have no right to preach to children.

Stop brainwashing kids."

-All right. -I know.

There's some negative backlash to the jazz hands day camp post

I made on social media.

I think it's a little bit upsetting

Because it could cause people to be intimidated or fearful,

So I really hope kids and families don't pay attention

To that negativity because it's not healthy at all.

Ooh!

All right. Let's see what we have.

That's actually super cute.

I take it you drew those little kids yourself.

I designed it.

I like the little glint in all of their eyes.

Yeah.

The banner isn't necessarily a full-blown art piece,

But it is a cute little doodle of three kids holding hands,

A boy and a girl and a gender-non-conforming child,

To show that gender is a spectrum

And that anyone could identify in the way they want,

And we'll be united in that.

Yay. It looks good.

No, it really does.

But it doesn't matter

If people don't show up to the event.

All right. Way to be a pessimist about it.

Mm-hmm.

I will be there.

All of your friends will be there.

We will be helping you.

We will make sure that this entire project stays afloat.

All right? -I appreciate it so much.

Jazz: noelle is trying to calm my fears,

And I really appreciate that she's on my side.

However, no matter what she says,

I'm always going to have this fear

That maybe people won't show up

Or maybe the wrong people will show up.

Crossing my fingers.

♪♪

When jazz wants something, she's always gotten her way.

Jeanette: I'm really tired of being a pushover.

You should be able to do the things

You need to do while you're living here.

I hate when you say I could do it in this house.

I'm annoyed. Like, I want it to stop.

Enough.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Cellphone rings ]

Sander: hello?

Jeanette: hey-ho! How are you?

I'm pretty good. I've been very busy.

How's my griffy?

Griffen: I'm good.

So I'm trying to figure out

What to do for jazz's birthday.

She really wanted to go skydiving,

But dr. Bower said she can't do it

If she lands on her cooch,

So there's got to be something fun

That you can think of that we could do.

We should go white-water rafting.

What about, like, camping?

Remember we talked about camping.

-Yeah. -Why don't we go camping?

She would really like to do that.

Or maybe we should do something similar to skydiving

That's, like, less strenuous on her body.

Jeanette: the boys have some really good ideas

For jazz's birthday.

Is a big number,

And jazz has had a rough time this year,

So she deserves to celebrate.

And don't forget we have the camp.

I'm gonna need you guys to help out a lot with that.

Griffen: I'll be there. Sander will be there.

We'll be happy to help.

For the kids, right, sander? -For the kids!

-Do it for the kids. -F.t.k.!

Anyway, I'm pulling up for lunch

For grandma and grandpa.

Go to your lunch. We love you a lot.

Love you very much.

-And we'll see you soon. -Okay. Mwah.

Bye-bye. Love you the most.

Love you the most.

Hey, hey.

Hi, sweetheart.

-Have I seen that before? -This?

No, I don't think so. -That's nice. I like that.

Thank you. You look amazing.

-Well, thank you. -You have great color.

I mean, when you were sick, you looked sick,

And you don't look like that anymore.

My dad's recovery sort of had ups and downs.

I'm worried.

I don't know where he really is at,

So it's really important to spend

As much time as possible with him and my mom.

When my granddaughter asked me,

"Did I see any light at the end of the tunnel?"

I said, "jazz, I was not that far gone.

I still had a little bit of a blood pressure."

I expect to be around for a long time.

Thank you.

I need to hear your thoughts

On your visit with the psychic.

What I remember most striking

Was that she was pointing to the chest about the heart,

And that made me wonder a little bit.

A little bit? I would be...

She could have pointed at any other part of your body.

So based on what she has told you, are you a believer

That some people have psychic abilities to some extent?

-No. Absolutely not. -I disagree.

So it was just a lucky guess?

If you look at somebody my age,

Everybody my age has had heart problems.

It's a very common thing.

Jeanette: I am not surprised at all.

I mean, he's been around for years,

And this is not what he believes in.

This is not his thing.

I'm just glad that my dad and jazz are bonding.

As long as they're not talking about politics,

They're good to go.

Do you have any plans for jazz's th birthday?

-Um... -No.

Put your thinking caps on.

In the meantime, I've got to put some energy

Towards the day camp.

Jazz is really worried

That nobody is gonna show up tomorrow.

You know, kids that are cisgender that are younger,

You know, the appeal of "come to jazz's camp,"

They might be like, "I don't know who jazz is."

So how do you p.r. It then?

You reach out for people you know...

-I can't guarantee her... -...and make a network.

...that tons of kids will come.

Well, maybe you don't need tons of kids.

Well, we do because it's group activities,

And you can't do group activities

If you don't have a big enough group.

You know, this has to go perfectly.

If it's not good, she'll be upset.

It's a reflection on her,

And she has to be a perfectionist about everything.

Jazz is not the first perfectionist with ocd

In this family.

She's never hosted anything before that I'm aware of

And certainly not of this importance,

And it would be failure for her not to have a show...

Show up with kids, so if she's got anxiety over it,

I think it's legitimate.

She doesn't have six months to rally a crowd.

Yeah, no, this is happening very fast.

Very quickly, yeah.

On top of that, she keeps nudging us to move out,

Just every day, hammering.

-How does greg deal with this? -He's on the same page as me.

I know he is, but what does he say?

It's upsetting. He feels it's disrespectful.

I have had this conversation with jazz.

It's walking a really thin line.

I made it very clear to her

That I was not going to get in the middle.

It's between the family, mom and dad.

Please get in the middle and take my side.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think she has a game plan of things

She wants to do without your having any...

Without permission.

The very fact that you are overseeing her

When the door opens and when the door closes,

She wants more freedom than that.

She gets a lot of freedom at home.

Like, yesterday, she ate fast food, ton of pizza

All in one day, which I didn't approve of.

Yeah, but did you let her know that?

-She knew. -Yeah, but did she...

-It was her... -Did you let her know...

-You would have grounded her. -Wait a minute.

I'm ask-- did you let her know you disapproved?

-Yeah. -That's what she doesn't want.

-Exactly. -She wants to not have your...

She wants to be able to eat herself to death.

I don't know.

Jeanette, I want to get down to brass tacks.

When jazz wants something, she's always gotten her way.

-Pretty much so. -Yeah.

I have never seen you deny her anything

When she demands it.

Well, a few things, a few things.

And now she's ,

She's gonna demand it, but she can do it.

Jeanette: jazz may be and overall, a good kid,

But I'm still her mother,

And I'm really tired of being a pushover.

I'm annoyed. Like, I want it to stop.

Enough. It's time to put our foot down.

♪♪

♪♪

-Hey, jazz? -What?

Can you come downstairs please?

We want to talk to you.

♪♪

We want to come to a resolution with it

Because you keep bringing up the idea of moving out.

Jeanette: greg and I are both very firm

That we do not want her to move out.

We've made it very clear,

And we're not gonna break down on this one.

I want to just hit a couple of reasons

Why I don't think you should move out.

I mean, let's be honest.

It's about your independence.

It's about your ability

To have whoever whenever you want.

That's kind of what you're looking for

In having your own place, right?

Are you with us? Hello?

Mm-hmm.

Am I putting words in your mouth or...

Yeah, I'm looking to create my own space.

I want to clean my own house,

Keep everything organized and tidy.

Do it.

You should be able to do the things

You need to do while you're living here.

This is bigger than a one-bedroom apartment.

I hate when you say I could do it in this house

Because I can't do them here.

I don't know why I can't do them here.

I don't know what's stopping me from doing them here.

It's just different. There's different energies.

There's different voices in my head.

I just don't understand.

If I want to do something

That I know is gonna make me happy,

And if me being happy is all you want,

Then why wouldn't you let me do it?

This is just unnecessary expenditure on your part.

I'm not going to cover that cost.

Well, that's not a reason we need to talk about

Because if I want to spend something

With my own money that I earn, then isn't that my right?

Jazz, we worked so hard to organize the surgery

At a time and a date that would be perfect

So that you could be at home

And we could be with you while you recover,

And you're still in recovery.

You're not fully healed yet,

And you're still going to need another surgery,

And you're still gonna need

Another recovery period after that.

What part of the recovery process

Can't I do on my own?

Jeanette: after everything I've been through

With jazz's surgery, it's like, "what the heck?"

This, in my opinion and mom's opinion,

Is the safest, best environment for you

To live at this point in your life.

Jazz: this back-and-forth has been going on for way too long,

And I don't want to just leave the house

Because I'm and able to do that.

I'm not gonna move out without their blessing,

So it just is what it is.

I understand it, and I respect it,

And I'll do what makes you guys happy.

I guess being a mature adult means that you're gonna have

To sometimes accept things that you don't really want to,

But I am not happy with it.

Are you -- are you okay with where we're coming from?

Jeanette: have we laid this to rest?

Yeah, sure.

I don't believe it.

Greg: so where's all the kids?

Yeah, jazz, where is everyone?

Jeanette: honestly, if nobody shows up,

I will feel really bad for her.

Nobody likes to see their child fail at something.

Jazz: what is going on?

♪♪

♪♪

Jeanette: jazz, are you ready?

It's finally the day of jazz hands day camp.

Mom, can you grab the bubbles?

My biggest fear has always been

That kids may not show up to this,

So hopefully, fingers crossed...

Let me take that. Do you got that?

Yeah, it's not heavy.

Sander, griffen, you guys are in charge of the banner.

Sander: this is a big deal.

Jazz is finally throwing her first advocacy event on her own.

I want a lot of people to show up.

Griffen: I've thrown events before

Where people don't show up,

And it doesn't make you feel good.

Let's get this thing hung up.

♪♪

Jeanette: we need all hands on deck.

All right. Where is everybody?

-Hey, good to see you. -Good.

-Hi. -How are you?

Jazz: it means so much to me that all of my friends

And family have showed up to help me in this event.

I'm hoping that they're not the only ones

Who are coming here because we need some kids.

I have no idea what the turnout is gonna be like.

You know, we invited a lot of kids,

But not one child has showed up yet.

Like, what is going on?

Jeanette: honestly, if nobody shows up,

I will feel really bad for her.

Nobody likes to see their child fail at something.

Greg: so where's all the kids?

Yeah, jazz. Where is everyone?

I mean, I posted something on social media.

I tried to get the word out as much as possible.

I told friends.

Things are off to a slow start.

Hi. Welcome. -Hello.

And I'm starting to worry a little bit.

-Bye. Thank you. -Have a good day.

Have a good one.

Hey! -It's so good to see you!

I'm so glad you made it.

-Hi. -You look so good.

Okay. You look .

I took ari's suggestion to contact jessica for help,

So hopefully she came through.

Where is everyone?

This is everyone so far.

I'm freaking out a little bit, 'cause I'm not sure

If any other kids are showing up.

Hey, listen. I put out the bat signal.

Okay.

Jessica: I can't imagine not being here to support jazz

On her first-ever jazz hands day camp,

But I think we're seeing the evolution of jazz's message,

So if there was an opportunity to cheer jazz on

As she took this next step in her advocacy work,

I didn't want to miss it.

Hey! What's up?

Nice to meet you all.

Thanks for coming.

Look, more people are showing up.

Nice to meet you. I'm jazz.

Oh, yay. There's people here.

Greg: this is great.

I'm like, "this is a camp! It's a camp!"

I'm so relieved that all of these kids have showed up.

Jazz hands day camp finally feels real.

I love mermaids.

Do you like mermaids? You must love mermaids.

Look, I have a mermaid tattoo.

I really want to be able to give them strength and confidence

That they could just be their true, authentic selves

Without worrying what other people think.

I really want this experience to resonate with them

For the rest of their lives.

I want to thank all of you for coming here today.

Are you all excited?

[ All cheer ]

All right. So we have

A lot of fun activities in store for today.

Jazz: the way the event works is that the kids

Participate in separate activities.

Hula-hoop with her! Follow her!

I really wanted to encourage team-building...

Sander: come on! Let's see it! Let's see it!

Jazz: ...unity, acceptance and self-esteem.

Ari: uh-oh.

I want them to ultimately feel comfortable

Expressing themselves unfiltered.

You know, everyone is different and unique in their own way.

Does anyone want to share something

That's different about them?

I sometimes just have a hard time

Getting through life.

Girl: some of my friends say,

"Why do you have a friend that's a boy?

You should only have friends that are girls."

When I go to school,

Lots of people bully me and tease me,

And they sometimes say that I'm not really actually a girl.

Lots of people have been mean to me,

And I think kids should be nice to me,

But I think all kids should be nice.

Jazz: people are gonna be mean to you sometimes.

They're gonna try to tell you to act a different way,

But just don't listen to them.

I actually have anxiety problems sometimes,

But I'm trying not to let that out because...

You want to talk about it?

-Sure. -We're all here to listen.

I mean, as I said, I have a lot of anxiety problems,

And inside, I'm like, "please make it stop. Make it stop,"

And eventually I've been starting to see a behavioralist

And a psychiatrist maybe.

I don't know if they're the same thing but...

-Helpers. -Yeah.

And how has it been for you?

It's been actually very good.

I've actually been feeling a lot better.

That's awesome. That makes me so happy.

Young woman: sometimes I have really bad anxiety, too,

And what helps me is,

When I start panicking or freaking out,

I stop and I close my eyes, and I describe a stop sign.

"It's an octagon, and it's red,

And the letters are s-t-o-p,"

And then you calm down, and it helps a lot.

-Yeah. -Yeah.

Jazz: there's so many things you could do, you know,

But the greatest thing

Is just telling everyone around you

When you know that something is going on within you,

Just be like, "hey, you know, I have this.

Please understand,"

And I'm sure people will understand,

And they'll, you know, accept it

And still love you for you.

Jazz actually makes me feel very special,

And I actually feel where I belong, so it was great.

You know, he has definitely felt different growing up.

Mm-hmm.

And I wanted him to bring him here

Because, you know, seeing that other people have differences,

He would benefit from understanding that

And feel better about himself.

That's great.

He's having the best time, and I had tears in my eyes.

Go that way. Go that way.

I think there's something special that jazz

Is doing here with the kids, and it makes me proud.

Did you guys have fun?

-Yes! -Yes!

Awesome. That's what I want to hear,

And now we can end this day

By just putting our hands up here

And showing that we're able to be who we are,

Being yourself and being able to be with a group of people

Who embrace you and love you for who you are is so important,

And that's what we have here today.

So I'm gonna do this right now.

Who's ready? Let's go.

-Go, jazz! -Oh.

[ Laughter ]

You guys will all do a better job.

Who's next? Come on, let's go.

-Who wants green? -There's pink.

Jack: I'm just so proud of her.

Jazz is a major, larger-than-life personality.

And they respond. What child would not respond?

Where does it come from? Who knows?

I hope you guys had fun.

Seriously, one of the best days ever.

-Oh! -I love it.

-That makes me so happy. -It was incredible.

-Oh, my god. -All right, everyone!

Group photo!

Okay. We need more people on this side.

The jazz hands day camp turned out to be more successful

Than I ever envisioned.

We had the perfect amount of kids show up, and overall,

I feel like the message was spread about loving

Who you are unconditionally and loving all around you.

One, two, three.

All: jazz hands day camp!

[ All cheering ]

-Yay! -Yay!

♪♪

Jazz: I can feel that the car is riding over grass,

And I feel like we're in the middle of nowhere,

And I'm just ready to take this blindfold off

And see what it is.

The surprise is revealed.

♪♪

Greg: how are you? Doing great.

Griffen: how pretty.

Nice scenery for jazz's birthday.

Jeanette: we are in orlando

Celebrating jazz's th birthday,

And we're all getting together

To have a special birthday lunch

Before the big surprise.

My baby's .

Yeah! I'm...

No, you can't be... Like, you can't be .

Well, it's too bad I am .

Her , it was, like, I accepted it.

I'm like, "she's an adult." -Yeah, 'cause I was still .

And you're like, "oh, no, no, no."

Sander: mom, now you're soon actually gonna be

An empty-nester, like, complete empty-nester.

I'll figure out a way to fill it.

I can foster kittens.

Griffen: jazz is the baby of the family,

And she's had a huge year.

Jazz's birthday is, like, a milestone

Within the family because we're all there.

We all made it. We're all .

We're all adults.

I just want to give you guys a big thank you

For being the best family ever.

Just everything we've been through,

All of the adventures,

We've all grown so much together as a family,

And I love you guys.

Happy birthday, and guess what?

We have a few presents for you.

Present time!

Greg: presents. Everybody likes presents.

Jeanette: ooh, I like ari's bag.

It has dots all over it.

Yeah, this is nice.

"Adulting ."

Ahh. That was the book that I gave you.

-Yeah. -Did you recycle the gift?

I'm passing it on. Yeah.

I just gave that book to ari literally for her graduation

From college, which was a few months ago.

There's no way she read that thing.

She must have really loved the book.

Yes, some nice undies!

New women's underwear is a great gift

Because the underwear that I used in the past

Doesn't fit the same and work the same

Because I have a vag*na now,

So it really is the perfect gift.

Greg: so this is from griffen?

A water bottle?

Salty but sweet.

-She loves water. -That's so you.

-She loves water. -She does.

-[ Gasps ] -oh.

No way.

I found a surprise.

Yeah.

Ah. He knows you well.

Sander: all right. My gift turn.

So for my gift, I didn't get anything physical.

I made something. I'm an emotional guy,

And I've been working on my video-editing skills.

Let's watch.

-Happy birthday. -Happy birthday, jazz.

-Love you. -We love you so much,

And we're so proud of you and happy for you.

-Aw. -Hello, jazz. I love you.

Jazz: sander's gift is so great

Because he put so much time and effort into this small video,

And it's really incredible to watch it.

Jeanette: this is the beginning of jazz,

The whole woman that you've always wanted to be.

Sander: I took a lot of footage of jazz's surgery

And made her a little video for her birthday.

I could buy her something, but it just wouldn't be the same.

Like, giving her a water bottle with reese's, like,

It's just not as good.

That was great, sander. Good job.

Good job. -Took a lot of time.

-Her face is so puffy. -But wait.

There is another gift,

But you're gonna have to wait for that

Because that's gonna happen tomorrow.

There's still one big surprise left,

And I cannot wait to find out what it is.

To jazz's adulthood.

-Jazz's adulthood. -Jazz's adulthood.

Welcome to the club.

♪♪

Jazz: it is early in the morning,

And we are heading out for my big birthday surprise.

I'm super excited.

I have no idea where we are going,

But I'll find out soon, I guess.

Time to hide away.

♪♪

I can feel that the car is riding over grass,

And I feel like we're in the middle of nowhere,

And I'm just ready to take this blindfold off

And see what it is.

The surprise is revealed.

Hold on. Let's do it like this.

-Oh, my god. -Ta-da!

Oh, my god. Wait.

I can't even open my eyes.

The blindfold comes off, but I cannot see.

It is too bright.

I do not know what it is with our family

And blindfolding people to surprise them.

Are those hot-air balloons?

Yeah.

That's awesome.

I have never been on a hot-air balloon before,

But I am so excited for this adventure.

That's so cool.

I love going up in the air.

You can look out beyond the horizon,

So this is a great substitute for skydiving.

I am ready to soar.

We're going on a hot-air balloon.

We're flying up right now. -Here we go.

Here we go. Up and away.

-Wow! -Go up so fast.

[ Cheering ]

-So serene. -Wow.

Greg: this is very cool.

Man: ladies and gentlemen,

Feel free to move about the cabin.

Place your trays in the upright position.

The emergency exits are obvious.

Try not to use them.

Can we hug and kiss you?

Jeanette: happy birthday.

When jazz was born, this cute little baby boy with dimples,

How could there be a way of us ever knowing

That she would turn out to be a beautiful young lady?

There's just no way we would have known

That jazz was gonna take us on this incredible journey.

Mm-mmm.

Hopefully will be less stressful.

A lot of stress this year.

The most fun part was the surgery.

-Oh, yes. -That was an adventure.

You were a good sport for that, too.

Mm-hmm.

That took a bit longer than we had expected,

The whole process,

From the procedure on to the recovery.

Jazz: this is just all so incredible.

Looking beyond the horizon,

It's just really a moment of reflection for me.

Between going to prom and hanging out with my friends

And then the surgery complications,

Getting a boyfriend, turning , so much happened,

And I feel like everything I've been through

Has been there for a reason to make me stronger,

And I'm so glad that we were able to get through it all,

And now I'm just with my family, enjoying this peaceful time.

Ari: I'm really proud of who my sister has become.

I see endless possibilities for jazz and her future.

She's really capable of so much,

And I'm excited to see where life takes us from here.

-We're at feet right now. -Whoo!

If you're scared of heights, we're at nine feet.

Just keep telling yourselves that.

Sander: now that jazz is an adult,

She's finally starting to take steps on her own,

In the right direction and some in the wrong,

But that's gonna help her learn and continue to grow.

Griffen: I think that jazz has a lot to learn

About the real world.

She's always been part of the family dynamic.

We've all babied her a little bit in life.

I don't know what's going to happen when she finally

Gets her independence, but we'll see how she does.

I can't believe we're doing this right now.

This is crazy. -Me, neither.

It's beautiful.

Man: this is the perfect day.

This is the perfect weather where we have relatively

Calm winds on the surface, and we have some wind up high

Where we actually get to travel somewhere.

You never know where we're going

Until we actually get there.

Oh, wow.

You know, when we fly, we're a part of the wind.

You never know where you're gonna land.

No, it's always a big adventure.

Jeanette: I have learned on this journey

That nothing is predictable.

Just any plans that you've made about anything,

Be willing to tear up at any point in time

And go with the flow.

I think that's why jazz has succeeded

And as a family we've been able to support her,

So if the balloon is not going

In the right direction, don't try to steer it.

Just go with the balloon.

Flow.

This feels like a dream honestly,

A good dream.

Jazz: turning has been huge for me,

And there's so much that lies ahead for me.

I have this cosmetic procedure coming up.

I have to make some decisions when it comes to college.

I do know that I want to continue moving forward

And creating positive change.

This world can be upsetting sometimes,

And I can't wait to bring positive change to all people.

♪♪