My aunt with dementia is in hospice care now, not eating, drinking only a bit, and mostly sleeping. Several of us are taking shifts sitting with her, making her feel loved and sometimes getting her to smile and even laugh whenever she’s awake. Otherwise, we don’t know what to do. But her out-of-state sister came to visit and the two had a lovely time as the sister told stories of their childhood and teen years and about their parents. The rest of us loved hearing those stories!

As my mother did when she was in her last years of dementia, my aunt enjoyed those old memories. Even if she didn’t actually remember, the stories were sweet and sometimes funny, and she was a part of them. The sister’s job is to start writing those stories for all the family. I had my mother’s stories from writing her Cherry Blossoms in Twilight memoir of childhood and young womanhood in Japan around WWII times. Doesn’t this remind us of the Nicholas Sparks novel and the movie The Notebook?

My tagline is “Saving the past for the future.” This holds poignant meaning when the future is our own.