100 words for Friday, June 1, 2012

There is bird turd on my cap; how lucky for me it is not on my head. Today I learned of an old superstition with a positive spin which could actually help people cope with the events of daily life. Many believe their dead relatives communicate with them; this story holds that finding a coin indicates a message. If the coin is face up, the message means something good is about to happen; look for it. If the coin is face down be reminded that something bad will occur, but since you are now prepared, it will work out well.

Many good things are happening for me this week. I had an opportunity to engage with friends whom I have known since graduate school some 34 years ago. We enjoyed a long lunch to celebrate a milestone birthday and restore the “invisible thread” which ties us to each other. The day before, the daughter of the fourth member of this group, who passed away several years ago, phoned to say she will be in NY from California this weekend. We will connect with her on Monday evening.

  Of course I am so excited about the upcoming week; my cousin Nora arrives from Switzerland tomorrow. Since she was so instrumental in uploading the book to amazon.com she feels Put That Knife Away is “our” book. I am happy to share ownership with her. Chester, one of the super-friendly doormen from our apartment building will help me set up our BookExpoAmerica booth 4190 on Monday, which is his day off. Nora and I will work the booth for the three days of the fair. My friends, Diane, Joan and Adele will provide a third person to hand out postcards and business cards, visit other booths to invite other exhibitors to meet with us and help me figure out how to get the most from this book fair.

The goal is to find a distributor for the book, perhaps a small publisher will want to pick it up; we will see. I would like the book to be read by students learning how to be geriatricians, or internists or neurologists. It will be important for social workers or others working with the aging baby-boomer population. Folks don’t know that these dementias affect other processes than memory—that aggressive behavior, sexually inappropriate behavior, even violent behaviors often accompany these dementias.

I feel it is important for the book to be available to libraries where caregivers with limited funds could read it, stores where people browse, such as big box stores where folks could see it and say, “I know someone who needs to read this book.” I want caregiver groups, both professional caregivers and family members to have access to this book which has been praised by Quill reviewers as “ a survival manual for caregivers.” I also want as many people as possible at this show which will attract several hundred exhibitors and several thousand visitors to know that 5.5. million Americans now have Alzheimer’s disease or other life-limiting, mind-destroying dementias and that currently three-fourths of them are being cared for at home by family members who need our support. Wish us luck!