As the author of MOTHERING MOTHER: A Daughter's Humorous and Heartbreaking Memoir, I know firsthand what caregiving does to a business. In 1999, I sold my private school to become a full-time caregiver to my then 89-year old mother who suffered from Parkinson's and later, Alzheimer's. The average caregiver spend four and a half years in full "caregiving mode," which is a long enough time to lose your market edge, and although caregiving is honorable, needed and important, the caregiver must go on with his/her life after their loved one passes. But what do you go back to? What you left almost five years ago? The job might not still be there, (or someone else is in it, most likely). You've grown and changed as a person--can you even go back to your old life?

It's tough.

I recently spoke at length with a woman who is in fear that caregiving will cost her her job. After twenty years as the office manager of a bustling firm, she is having to spend more and more time caring for her mother who is suffering from Alzheimer's. Her company is becoming frustrated--and she's feeling the pressure. She may have to quit in order not to be fired. After twenty years.

This is the reality of caregiving for many Americans.

I hope that words, my story of the inner conflicts, the frustrations, fears and hurts will comfort those who find themselves torn between their caregiving responibilities and the rest of their life.

~Carol D. O'Dell

MOTHERING MOTHER is available on Amazon and in most bookstores.