When someone says SANDWICH...don't you think "Yay!!" I mean seriously, think of it....from grilled paninis to peanut butter and fluff AND jelly...you have to admit, it's a positive experience. Don't even get me started on ice cream sandwiches! So don't you think comfort, you think safe...you think being nestled in the middle...(that's a whole other kind of sandwich) But not so!! I am quickly finding out you put the word Generation after the word Sandwich and you get something completely different! I, like sooooo many of my friends and acquaintances, am a member of the Sandwich Generation. Now I have to admit my Sandwich is not quite as overwhelming as some. I mean it's not a turkey club or anything that requires fancy toothpicks to hold it together. My sandwich is in the beginning stage...but I can see condiments being added as the years go on.
For those of you who think this blogger is food obsessed...well, you're right...but in this instance I am metaphor-ing all over the place about a position in life. I have 3 children and a grandchild. Because of the way of the world these days, 2 of them still live at home and one is married with a baby ...who we baby sit so my daughter can work...the way of the world. I am proud of my kids and what they have and have the potential to accomplish, But the reality is: they still need help. Of course my involvement in their lives varies at different times and I do understand that when you are sick....you still want your mama! So that is one slice of bread !
I am also so lucky to have both my parents. They have been healthy and from what I can see happy for many years...but just recently ..it has started...there was a fall or two and pneumonia, a couple little hospital stays and now arthritis..but they have been lucky to get to know their 2 (so far) great-grandchildren! So that is slice number two. Which makes me the ...baloney? turkey?...choose the filling of your choice!
See we are a generation who is "sandwiched" between helping our kids and helping our parents. That seems like a job for a grown up,but damn it...I don't feel like the grown up.
Come to think of it I have been waiting my whole life to feel like a grown up. I remember buying my first car ...a rust Comet ..rust was the color and the condition...the radio went on and off when you hit a pothole or a bump...but it was my own car...I kind of felt like a grown up... I had a loan and car insurance to pay...but no I wasn't quite there. I graduated from college ....got married...and boom! got pregnant (in that order) all in the second half of 1982. I must be grown up now because I'm a mom...this has to do it. But every time I would bring my overall clad, wild curly haired kids over to my parents house...they would immediately plop them on the kitchen counter and wash their faces and ask why I never put bibs on them... Damn! a grown up would have bibs on their kids !! So I blinked my eyes and here I am watching my kids graduate from high school, college...watched one of them (so far) walk down the aisle....and the check I wrote for the wedding was certainly a grown up check! But hmmmmm...I partied at that wedding like I was 18 years old ....so not a grown up. C'mon ...I have a mortgage...I have a real job....a couple of 'em ...so,when? when?
Fast foward and here I am a grandma...and anyone who has ever read my blog know I LOVE being "Ga". ...but holy shit when is this grown up thing gonna kick it. As I look at my responsibilities, I know what I have taken on is not for the weak of heart...certainly not kid stuff! I realize that the tough parts are still ahead of me...the talks! THE TALKS!!! "what to do with their house...what to do....we need to get this in writing"...OMG ( so not a grown up thing to say) I know the situations await me and I will try my best to handle it in a grown up way....I will continue to be there for my kids...what ever they need.
(Like taking a trip to Albany and NYC with my grandson so his mom doesn't have to be away from him all week on her business trip ****more on that stay tuned for the "Coops and Ga's Excellent Adventure" Blog!)
I will also be there for my Mom and Dad...what ever they need...I will gladly make the upcoming holiday turkey and make sure gifts are bought and doctor appointments are kept, groceries are in the house!! So order me a sandwich...hell, I'll have a sub...I guess it's falls under the heading "you gotta do what you gotta do..."
But with my track record I guess...in the words of Peter Pan... if it means I must prepare to shoulder burdens with a worried air....
I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up
Not me.....just sayin (and I'm sticking my tongue out)
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