When dementia took away Jyl Barlow’s daily conversations with her mother, she found another way to keep speaking to her. She began filling a journal with letters, sharing the thoughts, stories, frustrations, and everyday moments she could no longer communicate out loud.

Those deeply personal letters became Hi, Honey! A Dementia Diary, an intimate memoir about loving a parent through dementia, navigating anticipatory grief, and discovering that a relationship can continue even after conversation is no longer possible.

Released in May 2026, Hi, Honey! was written during the final nine months of Barlow’s mother’s life and throughout the year following her death. The book captures grief as it unfolds, without attempting to organize it into a simple or predictable journey. Its pages are candid, unresolved, humorous, painful, and deeply human.

Originally intended only as a private journal, the collection became a book when Barlow realized that her experience could offer recognition and companionship to others living through dementia, caregiving, illness, change, or loss.

“This is a book for anyone who has loved someone through illness, through change, or through loss,” Barlow explains. “It is a reminder that even when the conversation ends, the relationship doesn’t.”

Written as a series of letters to her mother, Judy, Hi, Honey! follows Barlow through hospice care, family upheaval, final goodbyes, funeral arrangements, and the ordinary responsibilities that continue after a death. Everyday objects and experiences, including old gift cards, quilts, urns, errands, parking lots, and a phone that no longer rings, become powerful reminders of a life and relationship that cannot be contained in boxes.

Literary Titan described the book as “a tender and bruisingly honest dementia diary about losing a mother twice: first slowly, through the fog and theft of dementia, and then finally, through death.” The review praised Barlow’s willingness to portray grief without making it more orderly or beautiful than it truly is, noting that she allows it to be “furious, funny, petty, exhausted, holy, and ridiculous, sometimes all in the same breath.” Literary Titan also commended the memoir’s conversational rhythm, emotional courage, and ability to show how love continues to take new forms after the mind and body begin to fail.

“Barlow gives permission for family care partners to ‘feel’ with a glimpse into her care journey and staying connected to her mom in meaningful ways,” said Missy Harden of the Alzheimer’s Association of Greater Richmond.

Rev. Lyn Whitley Harding, retired chaplain with Hospice of Virginia, called the book an important companion for those experiencing loss. “Grief has no handbook, but this comes close,” Harding said. “Full of insight while capturing what typically cannot be put into words. Barlow validates that there is no ‘correct’ way to grieve.”

The Writer’s Day praised the memoir’s distinctive openness, writing, “What makes this memoir so unique is its absolute vulnerability; the writing style is completely unfiltered, feeling less like a structured narrative and more like a private diary you’ve been trusted to read.”

Although Hi, Honey! is rooted in the specific experience of losing a mother to dementia, its themes extend to anyone who has experienced the changing identity of a loved one, the responsibilities of caregiving, the disorientation of grief, or the challenge of continuing life after loss.

Through humor, honesty, and a conversational style that can shift from blunt observation to quiet reflection, Barlow gives readers permission to experience grief without judgment. The book does not offer a formula for healing. Instead, it offers something equally valuable: recognition, connection, and reassurance that grief does not have to follow a correct path.

Hi, Honey! A Dementia Diary is available now through Amazon.

About the Author

Jyl Barlow is an award-winning writer known for her candid storytelling, humor, and delightful turn of phrase. Writing without a filter, she shares personal experiences with emotional honesty while finding moments of wit and humanity within life’s most difficult circumstances.

Barlow recently earned the top prize in the Global Human Interest Category of the Erma Bombeck Writing Competition. Her work explores family, identity, relationships, loss, and the unexpected turns of everyday life.

She lives just outside Richmond, Virginia, where she is navigating life as an empty nester. When not writing, Barlow can be found enthusiastically exploring the world.

Media Contact
Company Name: Literary Titan
Contact Person: Jyl CJ Barlow
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Country: United States
Website: https://jylbarlow.com