Top Rated Blog

 

My blog, “I’ll Always Remember” was selected as one of the top dementia blogs on the Internet!

You'll find my blog here: I'll Always Remember

On this blog, I write about our daughter and our journey with dementia. I try to give tips for caregivers. Traveling with someone who needs care is daunting. Caregivers are confronted with situations they have never experienced before. We don’t know the questions to ask, and when we do seek information, we don’t always know what to do with it.

Caregiving takes a toll physically, mentally, emotionally, and financially. Most of the caregiving falls to one person. We feel privileged to help, but we grow weary.

I met a man whose mother suffers with Alzheimer's. His wife slept with the man's mom. Fearing the afflicted would wake up and wander, the wife placed a bell over the bedroom door.  Alzheimer's patients can wander off. If the mom got up, the bell would awaken the caregiver.

This man told me his wife fed his mom and bathed her.

This man said it was an honor to care for his mother. But he was out and about. His wife had the honor. Not him.

I have lunch once a month with two ladies whose husbands lived in the same memory care as our daugher. We encourage each other and offer suggestions for the unexpected surprises.

Our daughter now lives in heaven. A friend asked me if I plan to continue the dementia blog. I will for a bit longer. I hope I can help someone who is on this dreadful voyage.

We all need to help one another as much as we can. 

Ways to help a caregiver

1. Financially.

2. Stay with the afflicted person while the caregiver takes a break.

3. Take a meal to them.

4. Listen to the caregiver. Just listen. 

5. Hug them.

6. Give them this link to information Best Dementia Blogs

 

 

Penelope and Me

Good Morning Everyone!

 

I want you to meet my friend, Penelope Marzec. She is an author with a staggering amount of novels to her credit.

Penny and I have never met face to face, but we are long-term friends. We met in 2012, when our publisher published my first book, and Penny was already an experienced novelist with the same company.

We have a lot in common. We are about the same age, and we both have been married to our husbands for years. We each gave birth to three daughters.

In a few ways, we are different. She is a devout Catholic, and I’m a dedicated Baptist, but we are both committed Christians.  She is a Democrat, and I am a Republican, but we respect each other, and we can talk about our differences without anger or insinuations.

Penny’s latest book, Love’s Gift, is another book to interest and enlighten you. She writes about the Transcontinental Railroad.  I asked her how she came up with that idea, and here’s what she said.

On Amazon

“The idea of the Chinese orphans came to me due to my husband’s fascination with trains.

From him, I learned about the building of the Transcontinental Railroad. Chinese laborers were recruited to come to this country to help build the railroad. They were given lower wages than the whites plus their work in tunneling through the Sierra Nevada Mountains was the most

dangerous. Yet, they were excluded from the famous photograph that marked the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in Utah, which was celebrated by the hammering of the Golden Spike.

 Unfortunately, the Chinese became victims of racial prejudice and in 1882 the Chinese Exclusion Act banned Chinese laborers from entering the United States. The Chinese already in this country were not allowed to become citizens. In fact, Chinese people in this country needed

to carry residency papers with them at all times. Otherwise, they could be sent to China. It’s a sad part of our country’s history, but my heroine perseveres helped by her faith.”

This is a wonderful book, and I hope you will buy it and leave a review!

I'm published a video about Penny and this book. Perhaps you'd like to see it. 

Gay on YouTube

 

 

Galveston Time

From our hotel balcony.

 Hubby and I made a trip to Galveston to see the Glenn Miller Orchestra. 

As a child, I listened to my aunt's recordings of the band's renditions. I played the song, "In the Mood" over and over. It sounded happy to me.

The band we saw in Galveston was excellent. They were not the original group, of course, but they were as good as the first assembly of musicians. 

I bought the tickets in advance. I also made hotel reservations. We are about two hours from Galveston, and we didn't want to return late at night, so we stayed over. Besides, a stay in Galveston is always lovely. I enjoy gazing at the water, even if it is seldom blue. The Gulf of America/Mexico is always grey when I view it.

As we drove, heavy rain pelted us. We had to pull off the highway and wait a few minutes before we could see to drive on to our destination.

When one purchases tickets in advance, how does one know the weather? Right?

From the Internet.

We had planned to Uber from the hotel to the 1884 Grand Opera House in Galveston, but I don't know how to use the Uber app properly, so we drove our car instead.

This theater opened in 1895, but I suppose the founders planned it in 1894, thus the name, 1894 Opera House.

It is old, but it is filled with ambience. The audience must have been smaller than today's patrons. The leg room in the place was kin to that of an airplane.

We sat beside a couple who live in Galveston and hold season tickets. The lady told me they have looked all over the auditorium for the best leg room, but the seating in the place didn't have it.

Americans grow larger these days than they did in 1894.

I needed to trip to Galveston. As you know, if you read my blogs, our daughter lives in heaven now, but I continue to grieve.

If you have a chance to see and hear the Glenn Miller Orchestra, go! You will enjoy it. The movie, "The Glenn Miller Story" is a wonderful movie. It stars James Stewart and June Allyson.

On a different subject. My book, Sarah and the Angelic Magical Makeover is free today!  I wrote it, but when I read it, I still laugh. It's a feel good book.

Sarah and the Angelic Magical Makeover