What, Me A . . . Sandwich?

Technically, I'm not.  A Sandwich that is.  The "Sandwich" Generation is described as those middle-agers who are still raising children while also taking care of an elderly parent.

While my daughter may act immature, she is, chronologically anyway, an adult.  But since I still give counsel (sometimes it's even asked for), advice and the occassional approval (usually on her outfit and accessories), and since she and I reside under the same roof with my mother, I count myself as one of them.  A Sandwich.

It makes life . . . interesting, I guess.  If it weren't for having both of them in my day-to-day life, I suppose I would spend many more hours on Facebook applications.  (Like Zoo World and FarmVille aren't enough!  Although many of my FB friends play both games that I do and several more besides.  But I digress.)

Fortunately, my mother can still do some things on her own.  This allows me to get out to shop, run errands, see friends, etc.  But because of limited mobility and her tendency to fall down, she can't live alone.  She doesn't want to live alone, either.

I am "on call" 24/7.  It took my daughter a few years and some maturity to see that, although I don't have to get up and get to a job on time and stay there for 8 hours, I do, in point of fact, work.  Sometimes my daughter causes more work for me than my mother.  Maybe.  It'd be a close call.

With no disrespect to my mother, it is like having two children in the house.  They both leave their stuff laying around the house.  They both look to me to help them with their insurance and other paperwork.  They both take me for granted.  That may sound a little harsh, but it's true.  Who will load and unload the dishwasher?  Who takes the garbage to the curb each week?  Who vacuums, decorates, cuts the cats' claws, cleans the windows, etc?  Me.  Well, you knew that already, huh?

That's not to say I don't nag.  With my daughter, I feel like a wife sometimes.  "Put the toilet paper on the holder."  "Pick up the bath mat after your shower."  "Dirty dishes go in the dishwasher."  (With the toilet paper, she actually set the roll on top of the holder, saying that it was "on the holder"!  Lawyers have nothing on lazy kids!)  She's gotten better--most of the time, not always.  She actually told me that if I wrote these things on post-it notes and put them on doors, mirrors, whatever, that she would remember to do them.  So I should have multi-colored sticky notes all over the house?!  She seems to think this would be perfectly acceptable.  Um, no?

With my mother, she's either forgetful, or not paying attention.  In either case, I refuse to put her empty water bottles in the recycle bag.  They will sit just where she left them (unless the cat knocks them down--then I put it right back where it was) until she notices and takes care of it.  Sometimes she forgets to put the peanut butter (something she uses almost daily) away.  That, too, sits where it is until she notices.  Now, it's not like I stand over her and make her take care of her stuff.  I just leave it to wait for her.

So, there you have it.  I'm a Sandwich.  I guess I should be grateful that I only have one child and that she is grown (mostly).  I do not know how people with younger and multiple children cope with them and an aging parent.  God bless 'em.