Today would have been my Uncle’s 90th birthday. The first birthday after someone dies is always interesting, they are complex, they are both joyful and sorrowful. It is a reminder that someone we loved is no longer with us. Not…
Suspended Into Imagination
All of us have had those moments, watching that movie, that video, listening to that piece of music, that sweeps us away into a different world, were things become clearer, imaginative, and we find ourselves longing to stay there for…
Balancing Grief and Joy
This past season, I lost two very close family members in short order. One was a shock, the other expected. Regardless of the circumstances that revolve around one’s death, the grief felt by those left here on earth remains strong,…
To Run the Race: How do we relay care and life while walking this dementia journey?
While the summer blooms are fading, we still may find glimpses of late bloomers. We may see blooms, such as this hydrangea, that stand in proud color and beauty, ignorant (or simply not caring) that it is October. As these…
Fear vs. Love
Do we care from a place of fear or from a place of love? The familiar feeling of fear can find its way into every area of our lives. In how we live, study, grow, work, and even how we…
When The Wind Is Taken From Your Sails
I had a teacher in middle school that took the wind out of my sails. She judged me based on my ability to take a standardized test. My intellect, my capacity to learn, my talents, my interests, and my dignity…
Dementia? So WHAT?
My heart sank the other day when I read a social media post about a mother who will not take her children to see her grandmother because she is now “toxic” and “depressing” because she now is living with FTD….
Titles, Certifications, and Chasing our Tails.
Are these things siloing us even further? Is our gaze set on status and warm fuzzies? Or on the person before us? I have always struggled to give myself a title for what I do. Am I a Creative Engagement…
Addictions in Dementia – No, not that kind of Addition!
We have many addictions in the dementia narrative. Addictions, that, like all addictions, lead to destruction and disaster. In our storytelling, in the trends of the greater society, in our own fears, we live out these addictions, and it is…
Perfectionism and Care Don’t Mix
Are you a perfectionist? I have a tendency to be one. How has it impacted your care? Your ability to live life with dementia to all its great width and depth? It is easy to want to do everything just…
The Simplicity of Intergenerational Friendships
Do we value intergenerational friendships and relationships as much as we think we do? I wonder sometimes if we do. If we did, would our media and entertainment show a better narrative for those who are older or have dementia?…
Walking Together – Building Your Care Team
No one can live with dementia alone. Not the person with the diagnosis. Not the care partner. We need people in our lives, willing to be with us in times of trials and triumphs. We need a care team, a…
