Kate is clearly not the same person as before. How?

She is sort of a "Rip van Winkle," and so much has happened in the world-at-large. But her own psyche is transformed and no longer the same. Let's discuss.

I like that she is different, and I like the Rip van Winkle analogy. I had a friend who was married to the same woman for his entire adult life, but he talked about how they both changed during their lives together. There was the pre-children relationship, the parenting relationship, the empty nest relationship, and the retirement relationship. He said that they were each different people during these relationships, and that was without Alzheilmer's or anything like that. It would be unrealistic to think that she could just reinsert herself into a life that no longer really existed. I enjoyed reading about her creating a new life, and I wish the author had given that even more attention.