Dementia ... the cruelest disease

I am a social worker in a nursing home and I am a granddaughter to someone with dementia. I will agree, it is an awful, awful disease. And after being on both sides, I will say that it is hardest to deal with my grandmother. I work with my residents with dementia every day and love it. I am so good with them- I am patient, creative, loving, etc. But when it comes to my grandmother, I struggle to be with her. She is in the beginning of the disease, so she still feels like she has to be a part of every conversation, has to know everything/one we are talking about, but really she doesn't. And she realizes this. So she has come up with one liners she will use to be a part of the conversation- "why do they look familiar" "a fish wouldn't get caught if he didn't open his mouth" " oh the food!" It gets to be annoying- which I hate to admit.
So my advice to you as a social worker would be to talk with her about the past. Have her describe the past to you. What her schooling was like, what she did for work, what the town was like she grew up in.... This will be where she is the sharpest. Take all of these descriptions and memories and write them all down. Because one day she won't be there. But you will have her memories in her own words.
I should listen to my own advice, because one day, I won't hear my grandmother say those silly one liners, but wish so bad I could.