“There are only four kinds of people in this world,” former first lady Rosalynn Carter once wrote. “Those who have been caregivers, those who currently are caregivers, those who will be caregivers, those who will need caregivers.” Her comment is true now more than ever before. This is a nation of caregivers. You can see it in the numbers: Approximately 50 million Americans provide the majority of the help needed by relatives or friends who are elderly, ill, or disabled. And those figures are only going to grow—the number of people 65 and over is expected to double in the next 40 years, and the number of those over 85 will more than three times.

But the reality of caregiving is best understood not with figures but through the following stories of spouses(Åäż), children, siblings (ÐֵܽãÃÃ), and friends who have stepped forward when a loved one needed them. Their experiences explain what’s new about caregiving these days, and what never changes.