The Ultimate Performance Art: Love

Central Recover Press 2013.

I've noticed that there are a lot of books about caregiving. I've had the opportunity to read several.  Surprisingly, I haven't reached the point of saturation.

Why am I still engaged?

While earning my master's in gerontology, I read many interesting statistics and many solid evidenced-based scholarly articles on family caregivers in general and caring for people with dementia specifically.

However, the work of scientists and social scientists cannot fully capture the caregiving experience.

(A review copy was provided by the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.) 

The relationship between caregiver and the person with a chronic or a terminal disease is more complex than any scholar can communicate.  

I strongly believe that artists are better equipped to represent the caregiving experience.  

I invite you to read Deborah Shouse's book Love in the Land of Dementia: Finding Hope in the Caregiver's Journey.  (See my review on Goodreads.) Shouse brings her skill as an accomplished writer to the task.  But more than that, Shouse brings her character: she's attentive, kind, perceptive and wise.

My JFK Memory

Detail of photo taken by Seansie
at the
National Portrait Gallery

Even though I am a Boomer, I can't answer to the question, "Where were you when Kennedy was shot?" because I was only 22 months old that day.

I can, however, report that JFK's image was prevalent throughout my childhood.

While growing up in the 1960s, I was immersed with images of this young president with boyish good looks.

He and Jackie somehow managed to reflect the ideal while also being relatable. Photos of the President and the First Lady with their young children revealed the softer side of America's first power couple.

But it wasn't photos of Jack's dimples or Jackie's wardrobe that resonated with me during my youth. It was a statement about Kennedy's political failures that stuck with me the most.

I remember one of my grade school teachers giving us a worksheet about JFK.  I learned that JFK had made a number of failed runs for office over his political career.

I was stunned to read this.  And as I moved from a child to a teen to a young adult, this memory helped me to persevere past failures and into success.
                   

~*~*~

This post is part of a Midlife Boulevard Blog Hop! 

The two dozen links below will dissipate in a week or two, so I'm preserving a few that captured my attention this time. 

Lori at Lavender Lulz describes Jackie's immediate response.

Renee at The Practical Shaman describes her confusion at age 6.

Cathy at An Empowered Spirit remembers her six-year-old brother's screaming when Ruby shot Oswald.
~*~*~

Calcium and Bone Health

Photo detail by faria!.

I recently received a DXA scan and  found out that I have osteopenia, a level of bone density that is lower than "good" but higher than osteoporosis. For this reason, I've been reading more about bone health and talking to experts and lay people alike about the issue.

Very casually, many health care professionals and individuals state, "take a daily calcium supplement." However, I wanted to look into the issue of supplements before taking a daily pill.

If you want to read a very good source on the topic, see this page on Calcium Supplements as prepared by the Office of Dietary Supplements at the National Institutes for Health. It's detailed and comprehensive. After reading this page, I understand the value of learning more about supplements before taking them.

Professional Personal Historians

Photo courtesy of Jill Staggs, pictured.

Some of my most treasured possessions are personal histories about my own ancestors.

Creating and reading personal histories offer many benefits.  For example, these narratives help me understand my place in a larger context of extended family. And they make historical events such as the Civil War and the Great Depression more meaningful.

Some of these family histories on my bookshelf were penned by my relatives. However, others were produced with some help with a professional personal historians.

I recently had the opportunity to talk with Jill Staggs from Personal Legacy Memoirs about why people might choose to work with a personal historian.