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Where Two Worlds Touch: A Spiritual Journey Through Alzheimer's Disease
| Title | Where Two Worlds Touch: A Spiritual Journey Through Alzheimer's Disease |
| Writer | |
| Date | 2025-03-16 12:22:34 |
| Type | |
| Link | Listen Read |
Desciption
“Where Two Worlds Touch is an accessible and compassionate guide to understanding and loving someone with Alzheimer's. Through her own personal experience and spiritual training, Jade Angelica offers a shift in perspective about Alzheimer's that shines a loving light on what is still there instead of what is lost. This is the book I wished for when my grandmother had Alzheimer's.” —Lisa Genova, New York Times bestselling author of Still AliceIn 2001, Jade Angelica's mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease, and thus began a surprising and transformative journey for both mother and daughter. From the early stages of the disease until her mother died, Angelica was dedicated to her mother's care, and in that time she learned a lot about grief, relationship, the nature of selfhood, and the unexpected gifts of Alzheimer's Disease. She also found a purpose and embarked on her life's work—to teach that people with Alzheimer's can have relationships, meaningful lives, joy, and growth. Where Two Worlds Touch is both a spiritual memoir and a pastoral guide for those who love someone with Alzheimer's. It offers heartfelt wisdom on preserving connection, self-care, and staying open to the possibility of grace. Read more
Review
On page 227 of WHERE TWO WORLDS TOUCH, in the chapter called “The Last Word,” Jade Angelica offers the image of a grown woman sitting on the lap of her Alzheimer’s-ridden parent: "Mom’s presence still gave me the experience of being mothered. Sometimes I actually sat on her lap. ... Mom had her arms tightly around me, and I imitated the voice of her baby doll, softly saying, 'Mama, Mama.'”Even though the Rev. Dr. Jade Angelica was careful to hold the bulk of her own weight off her mother, and even though her mother was still “robust,” I found this picture simultaneously compelling and disturbing. When I was caring for my own dementia-ridden mother in the late 1990s, I would never have even considered sitting on her lap, letting her hug me like a little girl. With my mom, I actually did many of the same kinds of things that Jade Angelica writes about in this new and helpful book, but I was far too reserved to even picture myself playing little girl with my mom.WHERE TWO WORLDS TOUCH changed my vision, lessened my unhelpful resistance, and opened me up to new possibilities for spiritual growth. Through her exquisite prose and fearless candor, Anglica not only shares her journey through the pain and struggles that inevitably accompany those struck with Alzheimer’s, but she does so in a way that illuminates the often-overlooked gifts of joy, relationship, and love that can also accompany this disease. The entire book is wonderful, but for me, her most meaningful contribution to the immense literature which has already flowed out of hundreds of pens/cartridges in an effort to combat this disease is the concept of improvisation. That’s the same stuff actors learn to use and Angelica learned to use in a course she chanced to take long before her mother was even diagnosed with dementia.In WHERE TWO WORLDS TOUCH spiritual director Jade Angelica shows how improv helps make the Alzheimer’s victim (aka the “scene partner”) look good. That’s actually a great idea, even if your “scene partner” isn’t afflicted with dementia. But in Alzheimer’s, Angelica shows how improv also gifts the caregiver -- with fun, “heart” speech, forgiveness, spiritual growth, and reciprocated love.A five star book, filled with ideas and resources. There’s a little repetition, but, after all, the subject is Alzheimer’s, so who cares! This one is a keeper. Beautiful. Touching. Life-giving.Reviewer: Sarah VossPiZine.org
