Caregiving can feel like being folded into someone else’s life: their routines, their needs, their changes. Over time, many care partners describe a steady erosion of self, as if who they were before is slowly being pushed into the background.

Grief is often imagined as something that begins after death. But for many care partners of persons living with dementia, grief begins long before the end, and it doesn’t follow a predictable path. It can rise and fall across days, echo through ordinary moments, and quietly reshape relationships, identities, and daily life.