A is for Awful!

Book excerpt: My name is Margaret Trimm Bachus. For 25 years I worked as a writer, producer and director, creating professional plays for young audiences. Sixteen original productions toured to 3 million children and families throughout the Eastern United States and Canada. In 2007 my sisters and I lost our mother to Alzheimer's disease. Helplessly we watched as this "Awful" disease took her memories, her dignity, and finally her life. To deal with our loss, we explored possibilities through which we could support families and victims of Alzheimer's disease. The Sisters Trimm became our working moniker. We continue our involvement in the war against Alzheimer's disease, and are especially proud of our Save the Story Creations. This is a creative process in which families or caregivers engage their loved one in simple guided memory conversations as Alzheimer's disease wages its battle for control. Specially designed questionnaires, created by us, are returned to us and translated into "story symbols" - charms, jewels tiny collectibles, permanently affixed to a story vessel. The Save the Story vessels are beautiful, tactile pieces of art that aid in storytelling and recall. When it is time to say goodbye, these creations save the life story for generations to come. When I co-wrote a play called Vaudeville Jazz in 1982, I had never heard of Alzheimer's disease. I just knew I had a story I wanted to tell. Vaudeville Jazz explored cross-generational love between a grandpa and his granddaughter as the grandpa's memory began to fail. The play toured to thousands of children and educators. The Florida Endowment for the Humanities underwrote a statewide tour to Senior Citizen Centers where Vaudeville Jazz was followed by discussion. I could never have imagined how closely this story would parallel my own family's experience 25 years later. Revisiting the Vaudeville Jazz script after we lost our mother, The Sisters Trimm, determined that the story should be re-told in book form so it could be available to children and families everywhere. We renamed the story, A is for Awful, to better reflect the enemy we now know as Alzheimer's disease.