The person losing a childhood language can feel homesick while still living near home.

Losing a language you grew up in is a kind of leaving that happens without any travel. Words that used to arrive on their own start needing to be searched for, and with them go jokes, lullabies and the particular way certain people said your name. The homesickness is real even when home is a short drive away, because the place you miss was partly made of sounds.

If this is happening to you, there is no wasted effort in small returns: a phone call in that language, a song, a recipe read aloud. Fluency is not the goal. Keeping the door open is.