20130212 – First Tuesday

Today my wife and I shared a brief conversation while I drove her to work – refreshing! I drove her because my daughter and grandchildren are visiting for two weeks while in transition to a new home out of state, and they need the other car while they’re in town. After a quick turnaround back home I take my son to work because his wife needs the one functioning car they have for several work related meetings during the day.

Breakfast on my own at my favorite McDonalds where the whole staff knows me and Mom (and Dad rest his soul) and ask how Mom is doing at assisted living because we’ve been there every Tuesday since October 2009; is followed by some quick paperwork for the doctor, confirmation of new bank signature cards, new phone service at assisted living - Mom’s new home, the traditional USPS change of address (don’t ever have the mail forwarded to assisted living, it can’t easily be “un-forwarded” from there, have it forwarded to your house for sorting and delivery to Mom), playing and food service with the grandchildren while Mommy grabs a few minutes of privacy for a shower, and finally a few minutes to write this post.

I guess I won’t be getting much business done today, the marketing plan, follow-up phone calls, Chamber of Commerce committee work and more phone calls will all wait another day. And that’s a Catch-22 decision because doing consulting work for supplemental income depends on those business things getting done, hmmm.  Stress is starting to kick in, but at least the blood pressure and blood sugar are still showing normal at midafternoon, not bad for a 63 year old overweight diabetic with a heart condition; yeah, I’m working on it! Somehow the hugs and playtime with the grandkids tend to even things out, at least for a little while.

Next will be time to retrieve my wife, prepare some dinner while she retreats from a tough day and the daughter and grandkids meet the other grandparents for dinner, take care of paperwork, and hang out in case my son needs a ride home for work if my daughter-in-law’s evening meeting runs long.

Not unusual for a day with the sandwich generation – just wanted to give you a sample. There’ll probably be more occasional examples to follow…