Teaching our children to feather their nests securely is vital, but it is just as important for those of us finding ourselves caring for elderly parents at the same time we have little ones at home to get help on that angle, as well.

For that other slice of bread on our sandwich ... we are the filling, of course ...... more

One common currency we older adoptive parents share is the likelihood that our mothers and fathers are longer in the tooth than most parents of twenty- and thirty-something moms and dads, while our kids are younger than those our peers are close to finished raising. This makes our version of the "Sandwich Generation" an even more dramatic example of how tough it can be to care for parents and children... more

Continued from here where I've been counting my friends amongst my blessings. Audie runs casinos, and is now working in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic. When he was living in Seychelles, he was in charge of the casino down on our end of the island. Unmarried and with one grown son, his life was and is the footloose and fancy free one of a night owl.

As surprising as it may sound to people in the know about my life now ...... more

For all my kvetching about guests, I'm usually very happy to have visitors.

A dear old friend arrived yesterday and is serving as a wonderful reminder of what can be great about breaks in the routine, long conversations, leisurely dinners and prompts for time on the beach. Of course, he's not actually staying WITH us, and that automatically makes him easier to host, but I will be spending as much time as possible with him during... more

It doesn't take much to start heated debates on web groups. It could be that this is the case especially when the group is adoption-related topic-wise, but I wouldn't know if others are just as quick to rile as I don't often frequent sites that address other interests. At the moment, members on various groups are up in arms, and at each other's throats, about, amongst other things, baby safe havens, a Chinese adoptee's bat mitzvah, the... more

I mentioned this on the International Blog the last time I was able to post, and while this one is working I'll put it here, too, for those who might not see the other ...

I would like to offer my sincere apologies to anyone commenting on my blogs or emailing me at the blog email if I am slow to respond.

I'm still having a great deal of trouble getting my computer and the blog technical stuff to speak the same language, so there are days at a time when I'm not able to accomplish much at all and end up having to send my posts to my editor to post for me. I'm often not able to see my own blogs once they're up, so have no idea if there are comments, and the blog email is just... more

I mentioned a while back that I've recently reconnected with my best friend from high school. I even posted the photo I took of myself to send her for reference to the now-me, since the me she last laid eyes on had had thirty-seven years or so less sun, stress, gravity, exposure to pollutants, and so on. (I know ... excuses, excuses.) Well, she managed to set some sort of there-to-here record getting photos ... the non-digital kind that had... more

Continued from here, where we've been talking about spoiling ...

As older parents, and specifically older adoptive parents, we all, I suspect, teeter on the brink of over-indulgence with our kids. Many of us come to parenting late after years of longing ... a recipe for spoiling if ever there was one. Plus, it's said by many that we have more patience than we did when younger, and that may translate to putting up with a lot more guff than we should.

Easily... more

This article, "Has Generation Y overdosed on self-esteem", has me wondering if we Boomers haven't done more harm than good in working so hard making life the easy and comfortable passage between birth and death it now is for so many in the Western World. It was, after all, our generation that took it on board to do everything within our power to level playing fields, even the odds, and strive for as close to some guarantee of 'normal' for as many as possible.... more

Because I was so young when I had my first set of kids, most of my contemporaries then were childless. Although there were a few of us caught in the pre-available-contraception web, most of my friends didn't start having children until mine were heading toward the tween years. My circumstance set me apart, and my twenties were tough. While others worried about finals and getting into the classes needed to satisfy a degree program, then began the climb up corporate ladders, I struggled to get myself and my kids ready for work/school every morning,... more