Friday, May 7, 2021

In my essay, My Sumi, which won the 2019 Area Agency on Aging 1-B contest, I wrote: “The hardest part of caregiving is that it is a lonely journey in spite of getting tremendous support from family and friends. It can feel that all dreams and hopes are on pause.”

But I can’t let the feeling of having my dreams on pause consume me. I have to keep dreaming and marching forward. When I first wrote about Sumi’s disease in 2015, many of you encouraged me to write more. Over the years, I have written about the happenings in our lives, my thoughts, and my feelings. All my writings were on my laptop and it became difficult to manage. I sometimes had several versions of the same essay or other writings. When someone new wanted to read more from MJWS it wasn’t easy to share. I began dreaming of ways to solve this challenge.
 
A lot of my friends encouraged me to write a book. That is still on the anvil and could happen someday. But one of my more immediate dreams was to have a website.

Jignasu Sheth, Laura Hoffman, and their team made my dream come true. They created and launched a website on the eve of Sumi’s 67th birthday (May 8). Jignasu and his family are our family friends of many years. His company, Muniweb, specializes in local government website design and hosting.

I will continue to dream. Some of my future goals are to do a Ted Talk and have interviews on NPR (National Public Radio) with Terry Gross (Fresh Air) and Krista Tippet (On Being). I am sure the creation of the MJWS website will open doors to my future dreams.

Here is the link to the My Journey With Sumi website—a gift to Sumi on the eve of her birthday!

My Journey with Sumi website https://myjourneywithsumi.com/

The website is organized into six sections:

  1. Buy the eBook: Preview a sample of the eBook before purchase.
  2. Our Journey: Essays organized in reverse chronological order with the latest at the top.
  3. Interviews: Print, radio, and podcast interviews organized with the latest at the top.
  4. Resources: Reviews of books relating to Alzheimer’s disease.
  5. Self-care: Art projects and additional hobbies for my own self-care.
  6. KC’s Story: Future essays documenting our lives prior to Sumi’s diagnosis in 2013.

A note about the testimonials: I do not disclose names until I get that person’s permission to use their name.

Please feel free to share my website with others. I hope by sharing globally, to a wider audience, someone, somewhere may find solace and inspiration.