I have to be honest with you - I never expected to be here.  Yes, ten years ago, I did assume that I would be married.  I thought I would be a mom, too (although, at the time, I wanted about three or four kids by now).  I even imagined that I would have a career (what - ‘rock star’ is a career).  No matter how much I whine, I have exactly what I wanted.  While I thought that we would drive to work with rocket-powered backpacks and that I would literally be rolling in money, my life is pretty much what I thought it would be.

Except for one thing - 

At the ripe old age of 27, I find myself a member of the sandwich generation.

I don’t know when it happened.  I don’t know how it happened.  It was gradual - I didn’t even realize it was going on until I got the phone call.  ”Honey, it’s Mom. Your dad’s tests results came back, and it’s cancer.”  So, we prayed like hell, read as much literature as we could get our hands on, and Dad fought. 

Three (four?) months later, another call. “Honey, it’s Mom.  Your dad has had a heart attack.”  So, we prayed like hell, read as much literature (and cookbooks) as we could get our hands on, and Dad fought.

Less than one month later, my Dad is in the hospital again. And it kills me that they are two hours away. I knew this time that something was wrong. I couldn’t get ahold of them, and I just had a bad feeling. So, I called the hospital directly.  My Mom was so mad at me for checking up on her!  

And now, we have come full circle. A great deal of my friends are in the same position - learning to be a parent while learning to parent their parents.  The “sandwich generation” - those who are stuck between their kids and their parents. The catch, is that most of my friends in this with me are in their fourties or older. Most of my friends that are my age are just starting to get married, or are still too busy having fun to settle down.

Don’t get me wrong - I’m not complaining, I’m just tired. And I don’t really know what I’m doing (shhh…don’t tell anybody).  In my mind, though, that’s most of what parenting is - not really knowing what is going on, and pressing forward anyway. Learning through trial and error.

Are you going through this?  Have you successfully navigated this part of life already? Let’s start a discussion here.  And now? To get a snack…all this talk about ’sandwiches’ is making me hungry!