Our brains are at the heart of who we are as human beings. I have had a fascination with how the brain works and how you can maintain a healthy ‘brain’ since my Dad died of dementia. It was the most awful sight…this proud man disintegrating in front of our eyes…this man who was incredibly intelligent not even being able to function at all without help.
Gosh even writing about it brings a lump to my throat. I idolised Dad and it still hurts that I could not stop that happening to him.
Anyway, (Anna pulls herself together!) I recorded an audio …read more

I often write how walking has helped me with my grief. Just being with nature helps, achieving the goal each day helps, the air on my face helps and also I meet people whilst I am out walking…
But I have just read this article that your Memory is Improved by 20% by Walking. Now I am not sure that some parts of my memory I want back….you know the ones that I mean – the pain, the loss etc but in terms of our future life then walking is a great health protector. It says that the study
“The results showed …read more

There is an ongoing conversation at the blog post Watching Someone Die, which made me think of final acts of love. If any of you have examples let me know – anna@b5media.com, and I will share with everyone. In my comment, I talked about how Dad seemed to wait until after my sister had left the room to die, so he didn’t leave her with the picture of him dying….I believe it was his final act of love for a daughter he knew was not emotionally strong enough to see that final breath.I think there were other acts of love, like..

 Saying he wanted …read more

Dad was a huge influence on my life, and someone I miss every day since he died in 2003. Dad was the original shy, retiring person until….he was with people. He loved people – his whole aim in life was to firstly help friends and family as much as humanly possible and secondly to find the good in each person that he met. It would have been his 84th birthday today – the glorious 12th.
Like many people, I don’t think I truly understood the strength of my love until it was too late. Somehow, you believe that parents will be …read more

Yesterday was an emotional day. We laid a memorial stone at my Dad’s local church to remember his contribution to the village. Mum had a few tears as the memories flooded back on his death from dementia. Dad was a remarkable man, he had this ability to reach out to everyone – shy by nature, he came alive when talking to people. He had that ability to find good in everyone, he had the ability to put the other person at the centre of his world.
I wonder what he would make about the memorial stone – he would be embarrassed …read more

When Dad died I was devastated and still am….we had a strange relationship in many ways. We were so similar and yet found it difficult later in life to connect. I still don’t understand why….
Fortunately at the end of his life – he died of dementia – we became close and we both managed to say those three little words to each other. Families are strange aren’t they…..now he isn’t he, I miss him soooo very much.
Anyway it will be his birthday on August 12th and I wanted to do something that honours his memory. He loved people, he loved …read more

This weekend I have one of my aunts – and my godmother – and my mum staying with me. Both of them lost their husbands, one to Parkinsons and one to Dementia so the final days were fairly horrific. I bought them tickets to a concert to help cheer them up, especially through these winter months.
When I look at their faces, I see the sheer delight that someone is reaching out to them, that they feel loved, that they are thoroughly enjoying being in the company of people that understand the power of grief.
Family can be such a wonderful comfort, …read more

I am a huge cat lover, they give me a sense of comfort – they give their love unconditionally and always there when you need a cuddle. Looking after them has given me a purpose on those days when I could not find a reason to live. So I smiled when I saw this article in The Sydney Morning Herald about Oscar
“OSCAR the cat makes his grand entrances just as life is about to leave.A hop onto the bed, a fastidious lick of the paws, then a snuggle beside a nursing home patient with little time left. Oscar’s purr, when …read more