A few weeks ago I spoke to AARP for a piece: "How to Cope When You Are Caregiving for Someone You (Really!) Don’t Get Along With," by Bruce Horovitz. That piece is worth reading if you are in a particularly hard situation. What I want to offer here is broader: practical tips and tools for any caregiving relationship, end of life, and especially for the challenges that come with it.

Labels have always terrified me. Not the words themselves, but what comes with them: the fear of being mis-seen. Of having someone look at me and see the label instead of me. Of being reduced to a word I never fully agreed to.