Writing songs is totally new to me. This poem has been set to music by David Belmont, who Mary Fridley introduced me to. Shirley Novak of Charnwood Arts has supported the recording of me reading the poem with the music. I've loved working with them all, and I'm playing with more ideas. Thanks also to Marilyn Ricci, Karin Koller and Rothley Writers for giving invaluable feedback and support. Charlotte Beaver has lent me a keyboard now, to take it all further. This post is coming out on my...

This morning I gave myself a hundred words. I'm giving them to you now. ... I’m old. My way of being old will not be anyone else’s way. I’m developing, learning, discovering. I’m finding out about other people and the world, about who I am now, and about living. I’m inconsistent, unreliable and awkward. I’ve never known the future. The unknown changes as mind, body and context change. I feel less silenced by the past, and more silenced by the context. I have more to say and offer, and less...

I've often wanted to post other people's writing on this website, but this is the first time it's happened. Mary is a treasured friend. She runs Reimagining Dementia, a global movement of 1200 people living with dementia, care partners, health and helping professionals, artists, advocates, academics and others committed to radically and creatively transforming the 'tragedy narrative' of dementia. Here she writes with openness and clarity about her mother and their relationship, her life, her...