Debut Author Finds Gentle Humor in Caring for Elders
Suzanne Asaff Blankenship’s expertise in elder care came from her own experiences caring for her mother, father-in-law, and mother-in-law. She considers herself an educated consumer of elderly services.
Blankenship’s first book, How To Take Care of Old People Without Losing Your Marbles, will debut the first week of February. The book gives short, detailed information that can lead those caring for the elderly to the right information for each unique situation. The Park Cities native began writing the book in 2013, and it only took her three weeks to complete.
“When you have it in your head, it just comes out,” she said.
book launch event
Suzanne Blankenship will hold a launch event for her eldercare book, How To Take Care of Old People Without Losing Your Marbles, on Feb. 4 in the Dallas Design District.
WHEN: Feb. 4, 4-7 p.m.
WHERE: 2242 Monitor St., Suite 160
According to Blankenship, the book advises on “the best way to give the care that your heart wants to give” and helps “take readers out of a tailspin” when dealing with ailing, older family members.
Caring for an elderly mother or father cannot be “approached the same way as child rearing,” said Blankenship, “Eldercare is punctuated by emergencies.”
Emergencies do not give caregivers much time to research and understand all options. Blankenship’s book offers advice and resources infused with humor so people are not starting from square one during time-sensitive and emotionally sensitive matters.
Blankenship wrote her book because “other people should not have to learn the same way I did [when caring for my mother],” and organized the information in a way she would have liked to view it.
Although Blankenship now lives in Colorado, “I never let go of the feeling that the Park Cities is home to me,” she said. “There is such a sense of community in the Park Cities — it has been so supportive with me caring for my mother, even from afar.”
