Tag: dementia

Searching For Home

Tom Lagasse

At night, after my day as a spice merchant concludes, the smell of garlic and onion dust coats my clothes and body like a new skin, as though I am someone different. I do not shower before visiting my parents, my scent melds with their age and confinement. My mother Read more

Tom Lagasse

Tom’s poetry has been published in Black Bough’s Poetry Freedom & Rapture and Dark Confessions; Faith, Hope, and Fiction; Silver Birch Press Prime Movers Series, Freshwater Literary Review, Word Mill Magazine, The Monterey Poetry Review, and Plum Tree Tavern, along with a half dozen anthologies among others. Several short stories appeared in The Feminine Collective. He lives in Bristol, CT.

When the Parent Becomes the Child: And Then There Was One

Dori Owen

I’ve never minded solitude. For a writer, it’s a natural condition. But caring for a dementia sufferer leads to a particular kind of loneliness. —Laurie Graham My mother is leaving me. Her mind allows her to tell me about my favorite stuffed animal when I was three, my Effalunt, but Read more

Dori Owen

Dori Owen is a storyteller, writing from small town Arizona, after living a few decades in California as an LA Wild Child, with a brief stop in Reno. She settled into grownup life as a project manager, collecting an MBA and a few husbands along the way. She is a shown artist and her favorite pastime is upcycling old furniture and decor she finds from thrift stores. She lives with the cat who came to visit but stayed. The love of her life is her grown son who lives in Portland, Oregon. Her essays and poems have been published in RAW&UNFILTERED VOL I, StigmaFighters Vol 2, and Love Notes From Humanity. Her blogs have been featured on The Lithium Chronicles, Open Thought Vortex, Sudden Denouement, and The Mighty.

Bed Alarm

Laura Owens

I don’t tremble, but they assume I’m Katherine Hepburn’s kind. We share our Parkinson’s frozen mask, expressionless, involuntary deceit of emotion. My shuffling gait halts while I calibrate my balance, refusing my wife’s arm even as my committee of limbs won’t comply. Stiffening, my six-foot body cracks against the shower Read more

Laura Owens

Laura Owens is a writer living in Orlando, Florida. Her focus is on raw truths, social commentary and wellness. You can find her work on Huffington Post, Purple Clover, Motherwell, Psych Central, Scary Mommy and Whole Life Times.

Golden Years Heartache

Valerie Vaughn

The old man really loved his woman, clutching his arthritic hand around a curved cane confused without his love, lost without her.   Mind decay, mixed with golden years heartache the love of his life tries to fade away, yet her lasting memory remains.   I cry like a baby Read more

Valerie Vaughn

Valerie Vaughn is a poet, writer, and author. A native of central Pennsylvania, she received her Bachelor's of Arts in History from Mary Baldwin College. She is a contributor to Poets Unlimited, Crossing Genres, and Extra Newsfeed at Medium. Her works appear in narratorINTERNATIONAL Anthologies Volumes 2 and 3, where she is an Editor's Pick Recipient.

Love in the Time of Dementia

Mary Novaria

My mom desires a closeness with me now that she never did when I was young. I’d long suspected my mother didn’t embrace parenting in that fervent, born-for-this way that some of us do. Still, I was stunned the day she actually confirmed just how trapped she’d felt in the Read more

Mary Novaria

Mary Novaria's is a two-time Writer's Digest award winner whose work has been featured in Oprah Daily, Washington Post, Spirituality & Health, Cosmopolitan, Feminine Collective, FF2 Media, HuffPost, and elsewhere. She and her husband are empty nesters who live in the mountains of Colorado with their rescue dog, Rooney. She is currently working on a novel.

A Mother’s Lessons Lead to Her Final Gift

Mary Novaria

“I want to die.” It was hard to hear when my mother first said the words to me over the phone, but I understood why she felt that way. Besides robbing her of memory, that thief dementia had stolen my mom’s independence, dignity and ability to have an adult conversation. Read more

Mary Novaria

Mary Novaria's is a two-time Writer's Digest award winner whose work has been featured in Oprah Daily, Washington Post, Spirituality & Health, Cosmopolitan, Feminine Collective, FF2 Media, HuffPost, and elsewhere. She and her husband are empty nesters who live in the mountains of Colorado with their rescue dog, Rooney. She is currently working on a novel.

Sometimes I Find Her

Megan Garner

Sometimes I find her so heavy with thought, She can’t remember where she put it, the thing, the one thing she ought to bring to the houses, with the people who call her— “Friend!” A parting gift, for the folks who stayed. She leaves it with them to be polite. Read more

Megan Garner

My name is Megan Garner and I currently work as a copywriter for a local marketing company. As a hobby, I attempt to write poetry, screenplays, and sweeping fantasy novels.

Asking for HELP

Beatrice Bailey

There is an age old adage that says, “Man makes plans, then God smiles”. All of us have many wonderful plans for our lives, only to face a detour or two along the way. I had married for the second time and my husband and I loved to travel. He Read more

Beatrice Bailey

Beatrice Bailey was born and raised in Davenport, Iowa to a Baptist minister father and a mother who was a gospel recording artist. She has three sisters and one brother. She attended the University of Iowa and graduated with a BA in Psychology from California State University, Sacramento. Retired since 2004 from management positions with both the Xerox Corporation and the State of California, Bea now conducts customized seminars on “Budgeting for the Not So Rich and Famous”, “Putting the Puzzle Pieces Together…The Ultimate Balancing Act,” as well as interview techniques entitled, “Selling the Sizzle and Not the Steak.” In addition, she is an active member of St. Paul Baptist Church in Sacramento, CA, where she is an Adult Sunday School teacher. Bea has been a Head Feature Writer for Senior Magazine of Northern California. She also writes a monthly newspaper column entitled, “Uniquely Bea” Currently, she has authored a best-selling book, entitled, "Farewell, My Friend” and is conducting presentations and book signings throughout the United States and Mexico. "Radio Luz,” a Spanish Speaking Christian Radio Station, has interviewed her multiple times. Bea also was selected to be included in a book by The Author’s Show, as one of the "50 Outstanding Writers You Should Be Reading”. Bea has produced and hosted a new innovative television show, “A-Z with Bea”, which aired in November 2009 on RCCTV, Sacramento, CA. Bea is active at St. Paul Baptist Church and is an Adult Sunday school Teacher, and a Small Accountability Group Leader. She is a member of Kaiser’s Bio-Ethics Committee and on the Board of Advisors for the East Lawn Corporation. Recently, she has been asked to participate as a speaker with the Black Health Today national organization. To relax, Bea likes to work out at the gym, walk, knit, paint, sew, cook, garden, and read. Traveling within the United States, Mexico, Asia, the Caribbean, South America and Europe is one of Bea’s true passions. She has two adult children, one “bonus son”, five wonderful grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She resides in Northern California.