The wildest and least anticipated time in adulthood and parenting is Sandwich Generation…without a doubt. With all the surprises and Easter eggs of motherhood, nothing can prepare you for parenting up/down at the same time. In early motherhood, there’s so much advice, so much you ignore out of naïveté, that you come to regret… But the one untouched area of advice, the black hole is being caught between parenting kids + your parents aging out.

Like a moron, I felt torn in two directions between my two children, and then trying to maintain a connection with my spouse, but I had no idea what was coming … that shit feels like child’s play. 

As an illustration, this week alone, one close family member was diagnosed with dementia, one was hospitalized with two kinds of pneumonia, and both of my kids are sick. I don’t think enough credit is given to how much it pushes human limits to try to be there for both. Obviously, you can’t be all things to people, but you can’t be anyone to any of the people when you feel so completely torn between priorities and you don’t wanna be a baby, but you can’t be the hero to anyone when you’re trying to do all of this stuff.

Man, I wished I’d appreciated the truly carefree times that preceded this season. If only someone would’ve red-flagged this shit.