The Sandwich Generation

I often hear the term The Sandwich Generation. The ones who are squished between caring for the young in their family and old in their family. I can honestly say that is not the most appropriate statement for how I feel right now. I realize that I have my children to care for, my husband is in another state, and my mother is recovering from surgery. I do not feel pressure from two sides pushing in on me. I instead feel pulled in many different directions.

A thought popped into my head of the toy, Stretch Armstrong. For those of you not close to me in age allow me to explain. Stretch Armstrong was a doll who was made of an elastic material that would literally stretch REALLY far (at least in commercials) but then return to it's sturdy, shorter shape. Currently, that is how I feel. One of my elastic arms is reaching out to Ohio to care for my mom, another arm wraps around my children. I have one foot extending toward Tennessee where I will soon have a home.(and perhaps this foot will give Jack a little involuntary kick when I am stressed once in awhile) The last foot stays at home so I have a place to come back to. This leg may bend in various directions but the foot stays firmly on the ground. I could say I am Gods toy and he is twirling me this way and that to see how far I will go. The good thing is that if I am like Stretch Armstrong eventually there will be a release and I will return to my own original shape no worse for ware.