Recently I met a wonderful community of writers. Those who write about their true experiences with their aging parents, and dealing with Alzheimer's and dementia. A wonderful support group, and people who know how difficult it is as my family is going through it right now.
What follows is the post written for the community about the inspiration behind my fictional novel of love in the golden years.
Love in the senior years: A true inspiration to me. My parents are married over sixty years as of this writing. Sixty years of ups and downs, good health and bad, happiness and sadness. But one thing remains: a steadfast love. It is this love that inspired me to write; theirs, and another couple: my husband’s elderly aunt and uncle.
You see, when I was a little girl, my
mother suffered from mental illness. There were times in her delusion
when she barely knew who she was, much like Alzheimer’s. It wasn’t easy
and she was hospitalized many times. That is why her recent diagnosis of
dementia has been very difficult to take. But as I saw when I was a
child, my father puts all of my mother’s needs first. At complete
disregard for his own comfort, he would do anything for Mom. He’s
remained by her side, loyal, loving, respectful, treating her as if
she’s the young beauty he first married so long ago.
I saw another great love. Louise, my
husband’s aunt, had a stroke several years back and was hospitalized and
eventually moved into a nursing home. Her husband, Hubert, took the
time every single day driving to see her, helping her to eat, talking
with her even though she couldn’t speak well, and making sure every need
of hers was met. There came a time he couldn’t drive any longer, and he
would wait as the senior bus picked him up, not missing one day with
his wife. When he suffered his own health crisis, he ended up in the
same care facility. Though they weren’t in the same room, Uncle Hubert
would wheel himself down the hall to spend time with his beloved each
and every day.
Hubert and Louise didn’t have many family
members, so I became a regular visitor of theirs. I watched as love
appeared to grow even stronger as Hubert sat by his wife’s side, gazing
upon her as if she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, and
talking to her as if she was the only person in the world who mattered.
It was then that a story began forming in
my mind. What if an older couple actually met for the first time in an
assisted living center? What if a warm friendship was forged, and
eventually led to love? My book Love Woven in Time was born.
It chronicles the lives of Harry and
Rose, two people who meet in the golden years, both with their own sets
of challenges, but the main one being Harry’s onset of dementia. It was
carefully written with the help of a dementia coach and author, Carol
Howell, and with thoughts of my parents and my husband’s uncle and aunt,
giving a story that is tender, believable, and written from the heart.
https://alzauthors.wordpress.com/2016/08/16/meet-karen-malena-author-of-love-woven-in-time/
