Sher-wood!

After several years in a nursing home, my aunt died. We weren't close exactly but the entire extended family spent a lot of time together when I was a kid and I have a lot of fond memories. She was clever with a sarcastic sense of humor, and her native intelligence kept her faking normality pretty well for a couple decades after she began losing her memory. My uncle and she took my brother and me to Disney World. I used to stay up late on vacation watching bats with them on the front porch. They set up epic Easter egg hunts for my cousins and me. They also showed me how to have a good life without kids at the center of it. We have an excellent white trash potato casserole recipe that is named after her, and I'm glad my daughter will carry that on.

Family caregiving during this gave me an excuse to take a week off work, and it helped a lot. I caught up on some sleep and started to feel halfway human again. It will be a financial disaster when my job disappears but time will be a huge silver lining.