Anyone who has been a caretaker knows it's not easy. Being a reluctant caretaker? Even worse.

That's the situation, at least initially, revealed in "Raising Renee," (8 tonight, HBO 2), a documentary chronicling artist and NCCU professor Beverly McIver's effort to care for her mentally disabled sister.

McIver made the promise to care for her sister to her mother blithely; she was a rising artist, unmarried and childless, raising cats and living in Arizona. A part of her, she admits, didn't (magically) think her mother would die. But Ethel McIver develops cancer, leaving her daughter to make good on her word.

If you happen to be around painter Beverly McIver when her cell phone rings, you'll get a nice little treat. Her ringtone is the song "At Last" -- and even though it's Beyonce's cover rather than Etta James' definitive 1961 version, it's a fitting sentiment for McIver these days. After a lifetime of struggle, things are finally falling into place for her art and her career, with an upcoming show at the NC Museum of Art and an acclaimed documentary film about her life airing on HBO later this year.

She's our Tar Heel of the Week, and you can read all about that here.