Club Sandwich

Are you in your thirties or forties and desperate? I am–and no, it’s not what you think, get your head out of the gutter. I have found myself lately part of the a href=”http://www.thesandwichgeneration.com/”Sandwich Generation/a, more specifically, a Club Sandwich, defined as “those in their 30s and 40s, with young children, aging parents and grandparents” (thanks to several readers who emailed me to ask me to post on this topic). I do not have any grandparents left and my father died over four years ago at 68, but I am now trying to help my mother, who has health problems and is in her late sixties–and I have a middle schooler who is dealing with well, all of those middle school issues. Add this to trying to work, take care of a house, etc. and it’s no wonder so many of us–both men and women– feel exhausted. br /br /Brian Williams on the emNightly News /emrecently had a series on caring for aging parents and had viewers write in with their a href=”http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17049721/”personal stories /a that range the spectrum from heartbreaking and caring to resentful at having to deal with parents, to wistful that their parents died early and they did not get to see them into old age. I think it is a privilege that we get to care for our parents as they get older but that does not mean that it is easy. So many health problems, emergencies (my own mother fell and fractured her foot in the middle of trying to move her to an independent care facility yesterday) and the day to day chores that need to get done are difficult at times, but in the end, all that matters is that we care for each other the best way that we can. Do you have a parent or parents that you care for? If so, how are you coping or not with the situation?