Suddenly, They're All Gone
March 31, 2013
Carol Mithers is a West-Coast-based journalist and author. On March 22, her posting Suddenly, They’re All Gone appeared on The New York Time’s “New Old Age Blog.”
One week later there were 579 comments.
Her topic, the overwhelming-ness of being part of the sandwich generation, is not unfamiliar to us.
In our 70’s (and for the lucky ones, beyond the 70’s) many of us are fully functional and are not a burden on the next generation. But unless we are very lucky, we will be a burden on someone some day.
Mithers tells about having her older relatives’ care-givers on speed dial; about knowing that things would not get better. She writes, “Frantic was my new normal and normal the new never…” She goes on to talk about “listening” because the past returns for the old when there is no future.
In the end, she says, “Their singularity dazzled me. Their selves, revealed in all their layered complexity, could never be replaced. I came to know them—and I fell in love.”
Many of us have “walked” in Mithers' shoes. But soon it could be us needing the help. Suddenly, They're All Gone is a story that we need to hear. http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/22/suddenly-theyre-all-gone/#more-14730)