July 12, 2025
Dear Dementia,
I am finding it hard to write letters to you each night, leading to the discovery that I am better at talking about you than with you. Ha, me, trying to talk to a disorder, something that cannot talk back, that does not have a soul. Yet, here we are, me writing letters to you every night for 31 nights.
While you are not a person, you are a bit of a character, a character that enters the story and changes the plot. We must face the changes in the story with bravery, curiosity, and kindness. We must engage with this new character you bring to the scene.
You are unwanted, yet offer gifts for those willing to look for them. You are complex yet simple. You are resilient and show us what it means to be resilient in times of unknowns. You mask our dreams and expose our true community.
I am trying to avoid making these personal, and yet, you are personal. Dementia is always personal. So tomorrow, we start at the very beginning of my story with you as a supporting character in my life. I must tell you what it has been like from my perspective.
Until tomorrow,
Kate
