Now I Understand

When I was really small, my mother was the walking definition of a what we now call The Sandwich Generation.
She was almost solely responsible for looking after us, her children, and her parents.
To increase the level of difficulty, my grandmother and I were both under extended stays in the hospital. I was there for under a year, in and out with testing and observation. My grandmother was on the intensive care floor and did have the luxury of leaving. My sister had just started half day kindergarten. My father worked all sorts of crazy shifts and was rarely home. My grandmother's husband was at home in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's.
Mom was putting a lot of miles on her car.
I am thankful I am not in the same boat. I am one of the lucky ones who has a support system.
Little Man needs a little extra help with building his self esteem. His teacher thankfully recognized this need and is helping him and us by providing someone at the school who can speak with Little Man. This week he is also going away on his first overnight without his guardians. It is an intensive workshop on building esteem. From the information I have gathered, it will conversations, role playing and character building. I wish they had this when I was younger.
On the other side of the sandwich, Hubs's father is now a permanent resident of where I work. He is not able to remember day to day activities and needs a lot of reminders and hints of what he needs to do next. Understandable he is very angry with his family, doctors and support staff.
To balance out all the crazy, we are taking a lot pleasure in the normal living things and when happy, exciting news visits, we jump all over that.
First order of the day, we decorated our Christmas tree!

Reno has now taken up position to wait for Santa.

He only leaves his post for personal moments, food and bizarre sounds and sights only he can see.
Mom in law received some excellent news, so we celebrated!

I even brought out my good dishes that have not seen the sun since I started my new life.
I even made a roast with Yorkshire puddings.

Finally because my brain is moving in all sorts of directions, those crazy hamsters at the wheel, I have a few projects I am working on.
Still knitting the OpArt blanket for Little Man. It is larger than when you last viewed.
I am working on a toque for Hubs called Antler Hat.

Using my Blaze skein inspired from The Walking Dead Season Two created by Bohemia Fibers, I am knitting up My Cup of Tea Socks.

At the end of the day, we will just keep on keepin' on...