Making Time for Everybody

I was helping my mother put her meds for the week in her pill organizer when my cell phone rang. Why was my 16-year old daughter Melissa calling me? She was supposed to be at work at her sales job at the mall. My heart stopped when I heard her sobbing. “Mom, I’ve been fired. Can you come pick me up?”

No, I couldn’t! I was 30 miles away at my mother’s house. Mom, an 85-year-old widow, had fallen and broken her pelvis two months before. She was recovering well, but I went to see her several times a week to help her with meds, groceries, cleaning and just to listen.

“Melissa, I can’t come right now. I’m with Mimi. I can be there in an hour.”

“Mom, just please hurry!”

The Sandwich Generation is what we’re called: people who are raising kids and taking care of elderly parents at the same time. Now I had to cut my time with Mom short and rush home. I’d listen to Melissa’s tale of woe and assure her she’d get another job. What I was able to do would have to be good enough.