This weekend I had the incredible experience of visiting the 30+ year old  educational retreat center Omega in the Hudson Valley in upper New York state. This vacation was intentionally planned around the author Julia Cameron and her teaching of her class “The Artist’s Way” in a group experience.

After the loss of a parent, family dynamics change and you or your parent may change how you did things such as vacations or holidays. I tend to prefer group vacations but after my father died my mother too enjoyed being in more group based vacation experiences than on her own. Here are a few ideas to help you or you parent (a few are for single women only) experience more group based vacations:

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This great site is the place to go for solid caregiving tips and advice. The Family Care Resource connection web site provides reviews of more than 1,000 consumer products targeting the family caregiver.

June 13th the Georgia Writers Association will celebrate 90 nominees for its 45th Georgia Author of the Year Award at Kennesaw State University. It is the oldest literary award in the Southeastern United States that was started in 1964. Tickets for the dinner are $40. Should be a fun night with lots of interesting writers to talk to- come join me-  Buy tickets.  See all nominees (Nominee categories: First novel,  creative nonfiction biography, picture books, essay, history, memoir, specialty book (Mom Minus Dad is in this category), Fiction, Mid-reader, Young Adult,  and Poetry)

I wish I had known about AARP’s grief and loss website when my father first died. It has a lot of helpful checklists and information about grief. The topics names their articles cover include Final Details, Urgent Details, Steps to Take, Necessary Papers, and Claiming Benefits. You don’t have to be an AARP member to access the information.

Subscribe your mom to the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement’s quarterly financial newsletter Wiserwomen. The web site and the newsletter- developed by the non profit WISER – covers money,investment basics, IRAS, social security, health, widowhood, and pensions. Check out the online budgeting worksheet to build a new budget.

HBO is presenting a 3 night series on Alzheimer’s next week. All cable subscribers, even those without HBO, should be able to view the series on the HBO channel for their cable company.

Schedule:
* The Memory Loss Tapes — Sunday, May 10 at 9 PM
* Grandpa, Do You Know Who I Am? — Monday, May 11 at 7:30 PM
* Momentum in Science — Monday, May 11 at 8 PM
* Caregivers — Tuesday, May 12 at 7 PM
* Momentum in Science, Part 2 –Tuesday, May 12 at 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. EST

Mom Minus Dad is now available as an Amazon Kindle ebook! The title is different (Loss of a Parent Practical 500+ Resource Guide for Busy Adults with a Newly Widowed Parent) but the book content  is the same with revisions to the old softcover version. Check it out on Amazon- price is $7.99 today!