Ms. Dale Baker

An Award-Winning Caregiver Book and a Poetic Sequel

Caregiving is a fast-growing family issue that spans years, sometimes decades. If you are of a certain age, you know that one day you will meet caregiving face-to-face. Whether you are the one in bed or the one bringing juice and pills, honest communication at the deepest level will get you through the roughest of days, and that's a skill that enriches any relationship.

Ms. Baker is a three-time caregiver and she has facilitated a caregiver support group in her home. She retired in 2003 from county social services to care full-time for her husband Richard. While she was still grieving his death from cancer in 2008, she assumed end-of-life care for her parents who passed away in 2010 and 2011 from Alzheimer's and heart disease, respectively.

Her first book is both a motivational how-to manual for those who struggle in their long-term caregiving role and a beautifully written memoir. More Than I Could Ever Know: How I Survived Caregiving has been honored twice as an outstanding book since its publication in March of 2014. Her second book Jarring A Tiny Bird is a poetic sequel to her caregiving book. Both books are available on Amazon.com.

More Than I Could Ever Know: How I Survived Caregiving

This book will recharge your own love story or make you wish that you had one like it.

This article is taken from her book More Than I Could Ever Know: How I Survived Caregiving.

Your lover and best friend is dying.
You will be taking care of him until the end.
You dread the day, fast approaching,
when illness will reduce him to
a little boy
and then
a baby.
How do you cope?

Ms. Baker's story was a bronze medal winner in the 2014 Living Now Book Awards that inspire better Living and Family Togetherness. This literary competition recognizes the excellence of newly published books in lifestyle categories from cooking and fitness to parenting and spirituality.

"These books can help people sort out the difficult issues in our fast-changing world," said Awards Director Jim Barnes. "…good books are necessary to inform ourselves and our loved ones so we can grow as individuals and as families."

In the 11th Annual USA Best Book Awards More Than I Could Ever Know: How I Survived Caregiving placed as a Finalist in its category. USABookNews.com, the premier online magazine featuring mainstream and independent publishing houses announced over 400 winners and finalists in over 100 categories. Ms. Dale's book was selected in the "Health: Death & Dying" category.

Jarring A Tiny Bird

If the lyrical prose in More Than I Could Ever Know: How I Survived Caregiving left you wanting more, you will love Dale L. Baker's poetry. Jarring a Tiny Bird is the poetic sequel to Ms. Baker's award-winning memoir. Follow Ms Dale L. Baker and explore her bibliography at the Ms Dale L. Baker Author Page on Amazon.com.

The poems in Jarring a Tiny Bird chronicle life's pleasures and traumas from a mature woman's point of view. The language is visual, often coquettish, and playful, but always powerful, dealing with love, loss, healing, personal mortality, and the sheer joy of writing.

Jarring a Tiny Bird opens with a dedication to one strong woman in Ms. Baker's life, her grandmother and ends with a poetic tribute to another, the teacher instrumental in Ms. Baker's development as a writer. The hummingbird theme alluded to in the title strings together emotional highs and lows of caregiving and widowhood and comes to a surprising yet touching finish in a tongue-in-cheek memorial poem.