It did not come in the form of a person I love being diagnosed with a form of dementia, a job (I was, after all, a 6th grader), or via a parent’s career. It came through a comment made by a classmate in my science class.

In my 6th-grade science class, my peers started talking about dementia. At the time I had no clue what it really was, nor was I aware of anyone in my life who had dementia. I knew enough though, that when a classmate started calling it, “old timer’s disease,” the correct behavior was to be appalled by that comment. This launched my passion for working with dementia as a volunteer. In 2005 when my grandmother was diagnosed with Vascular Dementia, the story become personal. My view of dementia as well as a greater awareness of what it means to live with dementia drastically changed. I experienced the struggles, stereotypes, shame, joy, love, laughter, and dynamics of the family journey. The world of dementia that I had moved into continued to grow, evolve, and transformed once again as I worked to make dementia my career recognizing that I was uniquely created for this purpose.

In 2011 the Dementia Letters Project started off as a blend of Life Enrichment work and volunteering (which at the time was named, Bonae Memorie.) In 2015, I started the shift towards officially launching the Dementia Letters Project.

Over the last 16 years, I have recognized the need for those living with dementia to tell their story, and for the greater community to start having a different type of conversation. There exists a longing to move away from doom and gloom and into joy. I started the project as a way to help all of us share our stories of dementia and move into that joy. As I write the current pages of the Dementia Letters Project story, I invite you to join me, to co-create a new narrative of dementia.