I’m going a little off-course this week. Instead of the usual resources and checklists, I want to talk about empathy, the real life of a family caregiver, and one small piece of advice I wish someone had handed me earlier. Sometimes I wish I had a photo of my face in all the situations that come with being part of the sandwich generation. Doctor appointments. Parent negotiations. Home-maintenance FUBARs. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any more ridiculous… they did. I

“Gretchen! Dad fell down while trying to walk Mitzi! I don’t know if he’s okay, and I keep telling him she’s too strong for him!” I received this panicked phone call from my mom, who lived in Delaware, while I lived in Texas. Talk about a helpless moment. Thank God nothing was broken, and it was only a few bruises and scrapes. But my worry grew. Those bruises and scrapes could be life-threatening. He was on blood thinners. What if one day he breaks a hip and can’t use a phone

I’ll never forget walking into my mom’s office late one night while staying with my dad. She was in the hospital after a major health crisis, and as I looked at her desk, I saw what felt like thousands of sticky notes scattered everywhere — each one scribbled with business names, login information, passwords, and reminders. Thank God she’d actually written it all down! In that moment, it hit me: they were declining, and I was going to need to step in “behind the scenes” in wa