Lauren Flake: Losing my mom to Alzheimer's as a young mom

Lauren Flake is a wife, mom to two girls, watercolor artist, seventh-generation Texan, and early-onset Alzheimer's daughter. She is the author and illustrator of two award-winning children's books for grieving preschoolers, Where Did My Sweet Grandma Go? and Where Did My Sweet Grandpa Go?, and a devotional for women, Though I Walk through the Valley.

Lauren's mom was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease in 2013  when Lauren  graduated from college and then sadly passed away when Lauren was a young mother. Our conversation recounts the intense difficulties of caring for a declining parent when you still need your mom so much and the grief Lauren experienced and still experiences in her life. 

Quotable Quotes: 
“My grandparents died in their early 90s. I had them for a long time and they had a full life and I grieved the relationship we had that was lost. But then with my mom, I grieved that but I also grieved all these things that she’s missing.

 “We’re so naive about grief. You’re never done with grief. You always grieve. Don’t tell me to stop grieving; that’s like telling me to stop loving. Grief is just the other side of love.”

 We also talked about how Lauren has transformed her experiences into resources for others who are walking the same path.

She hosts a caregivers support page called Daughters of Dementia

Her books for preschoolers:
Where did my sweet Grandma go?
Where did my sweet Grandpa go?

A devotional for grieving women:
Though I walk through the valley

Find Lauren here:
@loveofdixie on Facebook and Instagram
LaurenFlake.com