Ignorance is bliss

The other day, Hubby and I went to one of our beloved neighborhood restaurants. For obvious reasons, we haven't been there in a while. Our favorite server asked what was new: "My parents moved in with us," I replied. There was a long pause and then a quiet "OH MY."

Seriously, if you told people that a new puppy or an adopted child moved in with you, they'd get all excited and congratulate you. But when you tell them that old people have moved with you, it's Debbie Downer time.

I find this reaction amusing. It's as if we told people __________ (insert horrible situation here.) Universally, they feel TERRIBLE.

Part of me is grateful for the sympathy. It's nice for people to acknowledge that I'm not whining without reason.

Another part of me wants to run up to them and ask: "Wait, you mean it's not going to get better?!" Everyone ASSUMES that what we have going on here is AWFUL.

Look, I'll be honest, this IS challenging. On a daily basis, we are worrying about at least five things. But it's not unlike the beginning of the parenting cycle. Things are crazy. You work out some fixes. There are good days and bad days and you feel a little fist pump of victory when the old folks are fed and put to bed without incident.

Although I tend to be rather pessimistic, there's no way I could get through every day if I didn't feel like we were managing pretty well and people were happy.

Then again, it's entirely possible that I'm completely ignoring the big picture, which is that we have old people living with us, they drive us a little crazy, they are in moderate to poor health and they're going to decline.

It's all in how you look at it....or not look at it.