Now, I am not a parent and many credit parenting as a thankless job. I’d like to argue that it’s not parenting that is a thankless job. It is caregving. Now, parents are caregivers – so there’s that. However, our society is set up to assist parents in their caregiving role. We have a decent road map that is discussed openly in society about how to ago about that: step one, daycare, then preschool, then school, then college, then hey look you’re done. (Yes, I know that’s minimizing. Take the point for what it is and move on). Caregivers for adults have ZERO road map and it’s complicated. I’d argue that it’s more complicated than parenting, but I’ll reserve final judgement on that until I am actually a parent.

However, I am actually a caregiver, responsible for the welfare of a member of my family 40 years my senior. And while I have the advantage of being in this realm professionally so I know what I’m doing as a caregiver, let me tell you – it is not for sissies. (Or insert less gendered profanity here). Not for the faint of heart I suppose I could say. Even with all of the knowledge I have, it is HARD. And what’s so much worse is that I am a 30 year old in this situation. Now most of the time, I don’t focus on my age – in fact, I have a post on here about how age is just a number. However, in this situation, I think it’s important to note because few of my peers are in this situation. Which just makes it worse. Also if/when we have kids, I’m automatically in the sandwich generation – which is another distinction that is usually reserved for folks outside of my age group.

Personal rant aside, thank you for holding space for me by the way, I just wanted to make it abundantly clear:

To those caregiving for others: You Are Seen, You Are Heard, and You’ve Got This.

Even if it sucks just a bit. (Or a lot).