The purpose of this research was to uncover the meaning of caring for an el
derly relative. Nine middle-aged and elderly people volunteered to take par
t in audiorecorded interviews to describe their experience of caring for a
loved one. The following structural definition emerged from the study: The
meaning of caring for an elderly relative is surfacing poignant remembering
while doggedly continuing with nurturant giving and confirmatory receiving
, as swells of enjoyment merge with rides of sorrow amid uplifting together
ness and valleys of aloneness. Parse's theory of human becoming and van Kaa
m's operations for phenomenological analysis are applied. Implications for
practice and research are discussed.