Sometimes when Melissa Watson’s dad, Joel Swearingen of Cody, is meeting someone new, he’ll forget who his daughter is and tell them, "This is my wife, Melissa."

Watson, who moved back home to Cody a few years ago, doesn’t let that get to her.

Her father is in the beginning stages of dementia, and she knows that, over time, his condition is only going to worsen.

She also understands that mistaking her for his wife does make a certain kind of sense in the world of a man who can no longer remember things like the numbers on a clock face.

“Who’s the woman that takes care of you?” Watson said. “In my dad’s generation, that would have been your wife.”

Now the person who takes care of him is Watson.

A mother of two children, Watson is sandwiched between responsibilities. She’s the 24/7 par

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