About this episode
Tamara Buzyna Adams knows the sandwich generation experience. She spent years caregiving for her father through dementia while continuing to support her aging mother — all while raising two children and navigating a midlife career pivot.
In this episode, Tamara shares how exploring family history with a loved one living with dementia can be a powerful tool for connection — sparking moments of clarity, preserving identity, and bringing peace to both the person with dementia and the caregivers.
We also get into the deeply relatable emotions around role reversal with aging parents and what it really feels like when the child becomes the caregiver. Tamara shares her experience transitioning a parent to community living, how her family used regular Zoom calls to keep remote family members connected and involved, and the hard-won wisdom she's gained around saying no and setting boundaries as a caregiver.
She shares how her passion for genealogy turned into a profession, and the unexpected self-discovery journey that unfolded through translating her grandma’s handwritten journals and her additional research, which led her to write her book, Last Ship to Freedom. And for anyone curious about digging into their own family history, Tamara shares practical advice on how to get started — no experience needed.
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