The song, Stuck in the Middle with You, by Stealers Wheel has been playing in my head for a few days now when I think about where my life is at the moment. This phrase, describing our current station, is more how I feel rather than using the catch phrase, "sandwich generation," (sounds too textbook to me. There is nothing textbook about my family).

Yes, we have adult children that we are very much involved with and aging parents that we are very much involved with also! Do we feel "sandwiched?" I suppose so. More than anything we feel an increased responsibility due to the level of function ability of certain family members.

My grandparents passed away when when my parents were fairly young, late forties, early fifties. They didn't have the experience of having to feel as responsible for their parents then as we feel for our parents today. All of my grandparents were fairly independent until the time of their deaths. Some of my feelings of stress has to do with helping them through the many disease processes they are experiencing and how to exist in a tougher economy with limited resources.

This feeling of being stuck in the middle is bound to become more common place for American families. Other cultures move through this time of life with grace. We need to learn from them.
What an honor it should be to care for one's parents! It gives us an opportunity to shed the natural selfishness we harbor. It just hasn't been part of the American culture at large.

This blog will be dedicated to reflect the stage of life that I am now experiencing. Hopefully there will be more positive experiences than negative ones!

I feel blessed to be stuck in this stage of life with someone who is the calm, voice of reason, amidst this madness!