She cares for her aging parents full time. That requires taking care of herself, too

At age 43, Dawnita Brown made a life-changing pivot.

She took leave from her secure government job, winnowed down her possessions, resolved her financial responsibilities, and in 2016, signed up for the Peace Corps. Volunteering in Eswatini was "amazing," she says — so much so that she planned to extend her time abroad in a paid position with the Peace Corps after her service ended.

She didn't know she was about to make another pivot.

In 2018, her mom, Joan Cain, had a stroke in her brain stem. Brown rushed home to Baltimore, preparing herself to say goodbye. Instead, her mom recovered, but with a challenging prognosis.

"So, I became her proxy," Brown says, and she stayed by Cain's side through rehabilitation and nursing facilities. Eventually, concerns about the quality of her mother'