All Kinds of Love with Jemi Fraser



 Love comes in all kinds of variations. Romantic love. Family love. Friendship love. Chocolate love. (Yes, it’s a thing!)

I’m normally a romance writer. I like knowing there are Happy Endings ahead. I like watching characters learn more about themselves as their relationships develop. I like seeing them grow stronger and learn to love themselves as they learn to love their partner as well.

A nonfiction book is very different from contemporary romance. But, surprisingly, this one is just as focused on love.

Romantic Love
My dad died more than 20 years ago. Mom found new love again with a man who loved music as much as she did. He played, she danced (thus the title). Many of the titles in the book share titles with songs and their love shines through in some of the stories.

Family Love
This is probably the most obvious in the book. We’re a small immigrant family and have always been close. Making sure Mom knows/remembers she is loved despite the dementia clouding her brain and her memories is our #1 priority. It shows up in the mantra we needed for a while: Safe First, Happy Second.

Friendship Love
Mom has always been a good friend to others. She continues this in the nursing home. At first she even performed official Volunteer duties in the home and had the badge and hat to prove it!

Chocolate Love
Over the past few years, favourite foods have helped us help Mom through some extremely difficult times. Even now, Mom can get sad when we leave the nursing home. Having a treat for her (dark chocolate is her favourite!) as we leave lets us leave her with a smile on her face.

In Dancing With Dementia, you’ll see all these kinds of love throughout the stories in the book. You’ll see our family members learn more about each other and grow stronger and closer as the disease progresses.

So, while dementia doesn’t have the same kind of happy ending as the romance stories I write, it’s still filled with the most important ingredient in life. Love.

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Dementia and Alzheimer’s touch the lives of millions around the world, but so much is still unknown.

As first-generation Canadians, we didn’t recognize the early warning signs. We didn’t know the differences between regular aging and the early stages of dementia. We’ve made mistakes but we’ve learned a lot.

DANCING WITH DEMENTIA will help you:
           Identify those early warning signs
           Use visuals to improve communication
           Choose your words wisely
           Redirect and reassure
           Stay calm and cope with your own emotions
           Consider nursing home options
           Improve caregiver self-care

We’ve learned to dance the early steps of the disease with our love and laughter intact. If you are looking for help recognizing early signposts along with practical ways to cope with early Dementia and Alzheimer’s, this book is for you.

Dancing With Dementia is available now!


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Barnes & Noble          Kobo                      Goodreads shelf

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Jemi Fraser writes both fiction and nonfiction. Her nonfiction work focuses on the ways that dementia has impacted her family. Her fiction work varies from contemporary romance to suspense and flash fiction. Years as a teacher have taught Jemi that life is short and that happy endings are a must.

Jemi lives in Northern Ontario, Canada where snow is always a topic of conversation and the autumn leaves make everything better.


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26 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for hosting Dancing With Dementia! I appreciate your support!!! :)

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    1. You are welcome Jemi. I don't know when Blogger changed the settings and started holding the comments for moderation. Anyway, I fiddled around and hopefully all comments would show now.

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    2. Thanks - that definitely makes it easier! :) Gotta love when blogger has a mind of its own :)

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  2. I hope you and yours are safe.

    Greetings from London.

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  3. Sounds like it touches on a lot of emotional themes. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Thanks Rachel - it was extremely emotional to write!! :)

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  5. Thanks for sharing, this book sounds great and to address this topic is such a good thing. I hope that you are having a good day!

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    1. Thanks Cindy - we knew nothing about dementia when it slammed into our family. We hope this book can help others!

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  6. Hi Nas and Jemi - I love this post ... such a wonderful brief explanation of how love can be ... especially as people age and particularly here as you've shown with your mother's dementia. It will I'm sure help many others ... all the best - and give you many positive thoughts of the difficult times, as well as with your life of happiness with your mother and family. Congratulations - take care - Hilary

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    1. Thanks Hilary! Mom has always been full of joy and love so it's great to see that isn't always affected by dementia!

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  7. Thanks for the interesting post!

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  8. That does sound like an important read, especially for anyone who knows someone with dementia or suspects someone they know has it.

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  9. Such an interesting post and great books. Thank you for sharing.

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  10. There are all types of love. I'm glad that this book has got out there. I recently had a LYFT client who works with memory patients and she was only 21 and struggling a lot and I bet she was glad that she had a job and taking care of people who needed her.

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    1. Love really surrounds us in its many forms! Good for your friend - it's not an easy job!

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  11. I love the focus on love! This sounds like a great tool, but emotional nonetheless, as one tries to navigate living with the challenges of Dementia.

    Lindy@ A Bookish Escape

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    1. Thanks :) It certainly is emotional, Lindy!

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  12. Dancing with Dementia sounds like an interesting and helpful book. Thanks.

    www.thepulpitandthepen.com

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