Sarah Crick’s children’s book ‘Forget Me Not: A Mother’s Endless Love’ was published in February
When Sarah Crick and her brother Scott were young and before they learned to read on their own, their mother, Cathy, read to them every single night.
Later when Sarah was in high school and had reading assignments, she remembers how her mother would re-read books she had undoubtedly already read so they could discuss them.
This past week, the tables were turned.
In the memory care unit at Homeplace of Henderson, Sarah read her mother a very special book. Sarah wrote it and over the past several months worked on getting it illustrated and published.
Titled “Forget Me Not: A Mother’s Endless Love,” the children’s book is about a mother and daughter’s loving relationship through the lens of a long and painful journey with Alzheimer’s.
It published on her mother’s birthday in February.
Sarah was inspired to write the story early last summer as her mother’s “glimpses of recognition” were growing farther and farther apart. That had been steadily coming since she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a few years ago.
“She’d look at me with emptiness,” Sarah said about the person who always took her and her brother to the library and who jumped to get involved in all of their activities as they were growing up.
Sarah decided that she had a story about her mother’s love within her and that she needed to tell it.
“Mom loved books more than anything,” she said, joking that the high school English teacher and one of the originators of Henderson County High School’s gifted and talented program was “the original ChatGPT.”
With the encouragement of her husband, Austin Vowels, who agreed that Sarah had something important to share, she started writing.
The words flowed quickly.
“I felt like Mom’s words were coming through me,” she said. “(Writing) made me feel more connected to her.”
The story follows the stages of a girl’s life from early childhood to the milestones of adulthood as her mother reassures her at each stage.
It begins with:
“Forget me not, my darling daughter,
When you learn the wonderful things you can do.
I will be there watching,
And sharing them with you!”
We see the girl learning to ride a bicycle, defiantly cutting her own red hair, learning to bake a pie, performing in a dance recital, graduating from high school, going off to college, preparing for her wedding day and having her first child.
The mother is there at every step, until … there’s a change revealed near the end of the story:
“Forget me not, my darling daughter,
When I lose my way.
Just hold my hand and know I’m here,
Even though I seem far away.”
Throughout the story, the daughter’s memories appear with Forget-Me-Not flowers. The flowers become a symbol of love as they brighten and grow larger. And eventually as the petals begin to fall and scatter their seeds, they represent the mother’s gradual decline, while symbolizing that love outlasts loss.
Once the story was finished and Sarah was reassured by some early readers that “it was worth publishing,” she set about hiring an illustrator, who ended up being a young female artist in Pakistan with Kidsbook Art LLC.
“I really liked her art and she connected with me,” Sarah said. “She said she really loved the story.”
They collaborated on the illustrations from July until it was published, overcoming time zone and language barriers to get it just right. Sarah said the artist captured her and her mom perfectly in the illustrations. Her own young daughter immediately recognized her and Cathy.
The book was published through Amazon Direct Publishing. Sarah said that any proceeds from the sale of the book will be shared between the Alzheimer’s Association and Homeplace of Henderson, where Cathy has lived for four years as one of the first residents in the memory care unit.
Sarah said that her dad, Dr. Larry Crick, has been by her mom’s side every step of the journey and has been completely devoted to her care.
“We get to tell her every day that we love her,” Sarah said, though now they may not get acknowledgement or recognition. “We’re not going to change the way we act toward her.”
And though watching a person you love slowly fade away is agonizing, there are things to be grateful for, Sarah said.
“She mothered us in a way that she did not miss a moment,” she said.
