I'm Nate Marshall and this is the slowdown.

In my family, like many, caregiving is a solemn duty.

When I was a child, my grandfather cared for his father at the end of his life while

he lived through the slow decline that is Alzheimer's disease.

These were some of my earliest memories of my grandfather, him helping his father in

and out of the car when they came to family events or helping his father eat or dress

or bathe when I got to spend the night at their home.

Nate is one of the things that most stuck with me about both men, this tender relationship

between two already old men.

My maternal grandmother used to say, once a man, twice a child, when she was in her last

many months of chemotherapy and ultimate decline, my middle sister moved out of our house

while still a teenager to live with my grandmother across the park and help care for her.

The last many years until early 2021, my grandfather was cared for by a whole team of

family, both blood and bond.

As he experienced that same hard sickness of Alzheimer's that impacted his own father,

he was cared for by a combination of my mother, elder sister, nephew, godmother, brother

and law, and a whole host of us, including myself, in shifts and cameos.

Care work is hard, it is often thankless.

Home health care workers are among the lowest paid parts of the workforce in the United

States.

Care work is often rewarding, but it is just as often complex.

Care work rarely finds us when we're prepared for it.

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