Planting Forget-Me-Nots

I started Planting Forget-Me-Nots a few weeks after my Mum passed away after a difficult journey with Lewy body Dementia. I’d been journalling my thoughts and experiences, almost as if I were writing a self-help guide to my former self, for some time. But what use are these thoughts if they cannot be shared?

The conversation around dementia is often lacking. We shy away from it, we sugar coat it. I understand why, but perhaps for us to truly understand the significance of this disease and to be able to navigate it properly with our eyes wide open then we need to start from a place of honesty. Without shame, fear or prejudice. The battles you may face, the emotions you may feel and the thoughts that can be difficult to own.

So this is where I begin my blog. To plant the seeds for what you can come to expect from my musings. An honest account of what it has been like dealing with the realities of my Mum’s dementia over the last years of her life. I will share the good times as well as the bad. I will talk with honesty about my thoughts and fears over this time. Importantly I write from a place of love and support. My heart goes out to anyone whose loved one is on their own journey with dementia. I hope that what I share goes some way to help you feel a little less alone and to normalise the discourse around the impact this truly heartbreaking disease has on the whole family.

We plant forget me nots as a way to remember. A reminder to remember our loved ones as they were, not just as they are becoming. Their little blue flowers, a reminder to find the glimmers of colour amongst the darkness. I will continue to plant forget me nots in honour of my Mum and all those who have been affected by dementia, now and in the future.