A very thoughtful essay on a topic that will only become more important as our entire society ages.

It is all part of a cycle, but there are ways to help the cycle be smoother for everyone. Many times the time and resources spent helping someone are less of an issue than the speech and the feeling around the encounters--my siblings and I are happy to help my mom, but sometimes she wants to be too controlling about who helps her with what, when. If she let go of that a little bit, we would find it easy to help within our schedules. Like anything else, it really comes down to balance and a little give and take.

It sounds like you have already been doing a good job of achieving that balance with her daugther. My best wishes for good luck and health to all of you.