This is the third and last in our Summer Book Series with HFC, aka Hilarity for Charity, for 2021. In this session Loretta Woodward Veney joined us for a discussion of her book Being My Mom’s Mom: A Journey Through Dementia from a Daughter’s Perspective. We talked about her work as a LEGO Ambassador and how that fits into her dementia care for her mom, and discussed other activities to help caregivers connect and engage with their loved ones. About Loretta Woodward Veney Loretta Woodward Veney is a special friend to AlzAuthors and was one of the first authors to appear on our blog in July, 2016. Her mission is moving caregivers from "I give up" to "I've got this"! She recently retired from a 35-year career in security management and corporate training and is embarking on a new full-time career as a motivational speaker and trainer for those caring for a loved one with dementia. She is also a LEGO Ambassador, sharing her lifelong love for the little plastic building blocks with strategies to nurture creativity, communication, and connections between those with dementia and their loved ones. In 2006, when Loretta's beloved mom Doris was diagnosed with dementia, she began learning everything she could about the disease, and hoped to share that information so others could be better prepared than she was for this diagnosis. In 2013, that hope turned into her first book, Being My Mom's Mom, which highlights the first six years of the family's dementia journey. An updated version was published in December 2019 and includes a new chapter that picks up at the end of the first book until late 2019. Soon after publishing Being My Mom’s Mom, Loretta began receiving requests for presentations on her caregiver experience, and since that time has given more than 275 presentations and keynote addresses to audiences across the United States. She has published two additional books for caregivers: Refreshment for the Caregiver's Spirit, a motivational photo book, and Colors Flowing from My Mind, an easy-to-use coloring book for those with dementia. Read Loretta’s AlzAuthors posts: Meet Loretta Woodward Veney, Author of Being My Mom’s Mom, July 7, 2016 Loretta Woodward Veney Updates Her Memoir, Being My Mom’s Mom, May 26, 2020 Start reading "Being My Mom’s Mom: A Journey Through Dementia from a Daughter’s Perspective": https://amzn.to/2BCS18s Connect with Loretta Woodward Veney Twitter: https://twitter.com/lwveney Conquering Life Blog: https://lwveney.wordpress.com Website: https://lorettaveney.com About the Podcast Each season our podcast brings you six of our authors sharing their dementia journeys. Please subscribe so you don’t miss a word. If our authors’ stories move you please leave a review. And don’t forget to share our podcast with family and friends in need of knowledge, comfort and support on their own dementia journeys. AlzAuthors is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization totally reliant on donations to do what we do. Your generosity will help cover our many operating costs, which include website hosting and maintenance fees, service charges to keep things running smoothly, marketing expenditures to improve our reach, expand our content, and promote our authors, and more. Our ongoing work supports our mission to lift the silence and stigma of Alzheimer’s and other dementias. To sustain our efforts please visit https://alzauthors.com/donate/ . Thank you for listening.