My mom was raising me and caring for her mom with Alzheimer's. Our neighbors became our village.

Courtesy of the author My mom moved us from Brooklyn to Michigan after my grandma developed Alzheimer's. I helped care for my grandma while my mom navigated caregiving as a single parent. Our cohousing community became an extended family that supported all of us. I spent the first years of my life on the brownstone-lined streets of Brooklyn, waking up to the sounds of birds chirping mixed with car horns reverberating throughout the city. Little did I know that my childhood would take an unexpected turn. In the middle of first grade, my mom pulled me out of school , packed our suitcases, and moved us across the country to Michigan as my grandma, Lillian, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and needed extra support. My immediate family is small, just my mom and me, and Michigan felt completely foreign at the time.