Sandwiched and grateful

Two conversations with two elderlies helped me appreciate and redefine a role I consider both challenging and rewarding.

- By DOROTHY DELGADO NOVICIO

Two conversations with two elderlies helped me appreciate and redefine a role I consider both challenging and rewarding.

Like the X, Y or Z generation, the sandwich generation (SG) is a cohort of adults like me who assume the dual responsibility of overseeing the needs of aging parents while ensuring that the necessities of our own family are attended to.

One of these dialogues happened at the airport, as multi-sized and multicolored pieces of luggage went around the carousel area. The other took place at St. Patrick’s Cathedral days after the unveiling of the peculiarly titled mural, “What's so Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding.”

A towering Caucasian gentleman, who I reckon was in his 70’s, asked how long we have been waiting for our luggage. Isn’t it good to be home, he asked. I replied with a smile not wanting to explain that New York is a temporary home, while the Philippines is and will always be my home. It was a long and tiring flight, he said, but as a veteran he always enjoys going home to the Philippines where his wife comes from. They visit his wife’s aging mother and family regularly.

We are a small family of four, he added, but when it’s time to dine out, everyone in my wife’s family comes along. It’s usually three to four cars, he laughed, and traffic is always bad, he complained.