Sure sounds like you have quite a few people depending on you for care! However, from reading your other posts, I get the idea that you have your act together in spite of all the care you give. Sometimes giving care keeps me going. We just can't let ourselves burn out on it.

You are so right that no one ever told us that life could be so hard. We were so oblivious when we were kids. There are days when i am grateful that we were "blissfully unaware" of all the bad things that went on. Otherwise I don't think our childhoods would have been the fun-filled, action packed days of endless play and interaction with extended family and friends. Due to the way our parents raised us we weren't bogged down with earthly issues. But... there are the days that I feel like I had no preparation for this and I wonder why my parents didn't fill me in on some of the bad stuff. I remember when my Mom was living and she would tell me these sad stories about people I knew growing up. I would say, "Why didn't you tell us Uncle Tom had cancer?" Mom simply said,"You DIDN'T DO THAT back then". In some ways I can relate to that, because we have intentionally not told our kids some things about our family and friends because we don't think it could benefit them, and we don't want to worry there little minds. Who knows, one day my kids my look me in the eyes and say, "Why didn't you tell me these stories when I was a kid?"