Seniors who suffer with a memory loss disease often still have vivid recollections of their past. In many cases, as with my own mother who suffers with Alzheimer's disease, these seniors struggle with their short term or recent memory while recalling many details of their distant past. In fact, my mothers day to day existence, her reality, is her distant past.
On any given day she may be in the sixties, as a housewife, or back in the thirties as a child. As with other seniors suffering similarly she doesn't have the capability to understand or participate in our reality, the present. So, I have found engaging her in conversation about the past affords her an opportunity to contribute to the conversations and gives her a much needed sense of value.
This book initates pleasant conversation between us and actually enriches the quality of our visits. I've learned so much about my mother's life, and the past in general, and Mom beams with a self-worth that has long been lost. ..