A 2006 Retrospective

Though GenBetween won’t have a birthday until May, the end of the year is always a good time to look back and see what’s been happening.

Many people might call this type of retrospective a “best of”, but, to be honest, other than getting to meet all of you, I’m not sure there is a “best” part in all of this for me. Yet.
Anyway, I started things off with an introduction and my qualifications to come to you about the Sandwich Generation.
In case you’re new around here, I’ll sum it up by saying I’m an only child with aging parents, and, I have young children myself. 2006 has been an adventure for me.

My mother died in July after a 3 year battle with lung cancer (don’t smoke, please?), but, I am pleased to say that she did make it until their 50th wedding anniversary and we were very fortunate to have wonderful caregivers, and, a top notch hospice facility.

Unfortunately, immediately after she died, my father’s chronic back problem worsened, and, by the beginning of fall, he couldn’t walk. Since there’s just me, and, he lived alone, we spent a lot of time together as he works full-time. I picked him up every morning, took him to school (he’s a teacher), brought him home, ran errands, kept the house etc. Remember, I work full time as well, and, I have young children. Good times.

October brought the good news that he could have surgery for his back. Though it was successful, it was rough going for us for a while as he recovered. However, I will say that it is remarkable that, at age 74, he was back to work less than 3 weeks after major surgery.

So, really, even though my mother died in July, my father and I are just now getting into whatever will be our normal routine without her. The first holidays are upon us, and, so far so good.

Thank you for being here with me here at GenBetween, and, I hope I can be of service to you. Please let me know if there are topics you’d like to see covered here, or, if you just want to share your experiences.

Here’s to 2007!