Outskirts Press, INC.

A glimpse into how Dementia with Lewy Bodies impacted John, his spouse Candace, and their two children and life for Candace after John died. Loss, love, laughter and lessons.

When spouse, mother and lawyer Candace Wayne’s beloved husband John is diagnosed with Dementia with Lewy Bodies, she finally has a name for the changes, small and large, she’s born witness to for years. In this essay collection, Candace offers snapshots of the years leading up to John’s death, and those that unfold afterward. By turns raw and contemplative, her essays depict family road trips, restaurant outings, and doctors appointments and John’s last breaths. Much like Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking, this collection is true to the experience of mourning, taking the reader through the author’s real-time experiences before revisiting episodes through the lens of retrospect. Ultimately, the author’s sadness makes way for reluctant optimism as Candace awakens to the bittersweet realization that the person her husband’s death caused her to become is a woman she’s grateful to know.