Caught Between Two Generations
As a daughter, I feel an unspoken responsibility to care for my aging parents—people who gave their youth, energy, and love to raise me. Even now, despite their frailty, they find small, familiar ways to nurture me, the same way they always have. But as much as I try to be present for them, motherhood pulls me in another direction, dividing my time, attention, and patience between the two roles. With age, my parents seem to change before my eyes. The steady, self-assured adults I knew now appear more fragile, their needs softer but more urgent. At times, they seem childlike—vulnerable, easily hurt, craving my understanding. Meanwhile, my children, standing on the threshold of adolescence, push boundaries, test my patience, and demand constant attention. I feel stretched between these two worlds: one looking back with quiet expectation, the other rushing forward, unrelenting. The weight of being needed by two generations is exhausting. I often find myself torn between two lives—th...