Honest exploration of anticipatory grief
A story about
connection, resilience,
& what it means to
love fully, even when time feels fragile.
Blending personal storytelling, clinical insight, and moments of unexpected humor, this book gives language to an experience so many people carry quietly—the ache of missing someone who is still here.
A story about connection,
resilience, & what it means
to love fully, even when
time feels fragile.
Who the book is for
For anyone supporting a loved one through a serious illness, chronic condition, or navigating significant life changes, Miss You Already offers guidance and validation.
Miss You Already is a deeply moving and honest exploration of anticipatory grief, following counselor Meagan (that’s me) and her best friend Staci as they navigate life after a stage four lung cancer diagnosis. As roles shift from friends to caregiver and companion, they face the emotional complexity of loving someone while preparing for the reality of loss.
Readers will find themselves reflected in these pages as they balance caregiving, relationships, work, and the emotional weight of uncertainty. This book is for:
Caregivers supporting a loved one through serious illness like dementia or Alzheimer’s
Friends, partners, and family members navigating life after a diagnosis
Anyone experiencing anticipatory grief or preparing for loss
Readers seeking mental health support, reflection, and meaning during difficult seasons of life
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About us
Meet Staci & Meagan
Meagan Davies and Staci Fox are best friends whose lives changed when Staci was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. Together, they began navigating the strange space between living fully and preparing for loss. Meagan brings the perspective of a counselor; Staci brings the candor of someone living it. Their friendship, humor, honesty, and hard-won insight shape Miss You Already, a story about anticipatory grief, caregiving, connection, and love.
Frequently asked questions
Have questions? We have answers
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Miss You Already: Living and Loving Through Anticipatory Grief is a compassionate, practical guide to understanding grief that begins before a death or final loss. The book explores the emotional impact of serious illness, aging, caregiving, changing relationships, uncertain futures, and other experiences that can create anticipatory grief while a loved one is still present.
Through personal stories, clinical insight, reflection questions, and practical tools, the book helps readers name what they are experiencing and feel less alone.
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Anticipatory grief is the emotional response that can occur when a person anticipates or fears a future loss. It may begin after a serious diagnosis, during the progression of dementia, while caring for an aging parent, or when a relationship or familiar way of life changes.
A person experiencing anticipatory grief may feel sadness, anxiety, anger, guilt, numbness, exhaustion, or even moments of relief. These emotions can feel confusing because the actual loss has not happened, but life has already begun to change.
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This book is for anyone navigating grief, uncertainty, or change. It may be especially helpful for:
Family caregivers
Adult children of aging parents
People supporting someone with a serious illness
Spouses and partners facing a loved one’s diagnosis
Friends who want to offer meaningful support
Therapists, counselors, healthcare professionals, hospice workers, and faith leaders
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No. Although Miss You Already addresses grief related to illness, caregiving, aging, and the possibility of death, anticipatory grief can also appear in non-death losses.
Readers may experience anticipatory grief during divorce, estrangement, infertility, relocation, retirement, a career transition, the loss of independence, or a significant change in identity or family life.
The common thread is grieving what is changing, disappearing, or no longer unfolding as expected.
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Yes. It is possible to deeply love someone and grieve the changes occurring in their health, personality, abilities, independence, or relationship with you.
This is especially common when a loved one has dementia, a chronic illness, a terminal diagnosis, or a condition that changes how they communicate or participate in the relationship.
Grieving someone who is still alive does not mean you have given up on them. It means you are responding to a real and meaningful change.
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Yes. Miss You Already explores the emotional and physical demands of caregiving, including exhaustion, hypervigilance, resentment, guilt, isolation, and the pressure to remain strong.
The book encourages caregivers to recognize their own needs, establish sustainable boundaries, ask for support, and make room for rest without viewing self-care as abandonment.
Caring for yourself is not separate from caregiving. It is part of making caregiving more sustainable.
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Many grief books focus primarily on what happens after a death. Miss You Already focuses on the complicated period before a loss.
It addresses the experience of loving someone who is still here while also grieving changes that are already taking place. The book does not ask readers to choose between hope and grief. It makes room for both.
The book combines emotional validation, practical strategies, clinical insight, and personal storytelling to help readers feel understood and supported.
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Yes. Healthcare professionals (nurses, physicians, care teams) hospice teams, social workers, chaplains, clergy members, and other helping professionals may find the book useful when supporting individuals and families through serious illness and changing family roles.
The book can help professionals better understand the emotional experience that may exist alongside medical decision-making, caregiving responsibilities, faith questions, and end-of-life planning
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Readers will gain language for an experience that is often difficult to explain. They will also learn ways to care for themselves, communicate more openly, manage uncertainty, make meaningful use of the present, and recognize that anticipatory grief is real.
The central message of the book is that you do not have to wait until a loss occurs to acknowledge your grief—and you do not have to carry it alone.
A guide for anyone experiencing anticipatory grief and struggling to cope
Featuring journaling exercises, stories of others caring for sick parents or trying to save a failing marriage, and mental health resources, this book combines real-life guidance and support with the science behind anticipatory grief. For anyone fighting through grief before loss, this is for you.
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