Monday, November 30, 2009

Would a senior send $68,000 in cashier checks to Canada if phone call said they had won the Canadian Lottery?

http://www.midlifecrisisqueen.com/2009/11/25/caring-for-your-aging-parents-barbara-mcvicker/

Barbara McVicker is a national speaker, HR consultant, and author of Stuck in the Middle…shared stories and tips for caregiving your elderly parents.

Here she shares experiences:
Just when I thought it was finally time for me, the inevitable phone call came, shattering my well-planned life. My elderly parents needed me. A new chapter of my life was beginning, one for which I was totally unprepared. I did not know that I was now embarking on a ten year journey—taking care of my mom and dad.

For most people this phone call comes because Mom has fallen and landed in the emergency room with a broken hip. But my parents are not normal. My father had just sent $68,000 in cashier checks to Canada because he received a phone call saying that he had won the Canadian Lottery.

We midlife daughters may be totally prepared for child rearing, but we are thoroughly unprepared for caregiving aging parents. How can we be so naive as to think that we will not have to take on this new job with all of its conflicts and emotions?