Sandwich Generation

I am part of the generation who has seen parents having 6-8 or even more siblings, grandparents in their old age who are tired fulfilling the needs and wants of life. Life was drifting from large joint families to small nuclear family. I grew and became part of one more generation where we have 1 or 2 kids, and these kids have healthy and energetic grandparents. So, I treat myself like a filling between these two generations who adds taste to the sandwich and is tasty on its own as well. We know what we enjoyed, we know what our kids missed, we also enjoyed what our kids enjoyed and lived a journey which is an experience of lifetime. Seeing the change of one century to another was no different from any other New Year’s Eve but being part of the sandwich generation is the luckiest experience anyone can wish for.

I enjoyed spending my vacations with house full of cousins and extended family members. The joy of fighting for a space to sleep, long queue outside one bathroom for the whole house, playing hide and seek with elders, being carefree while walking through the streets are some experiences which form our personality, and some become memories which always leave a smile when we think about it. I grew up listening to stories from my dad about walking miles together everyday to go to school and now I am growing to see my daughter using elevator to even walk down the stairs. The experience we had bind us with our larger extended family and helps us teach our new generation the value of family in this nuclear world. Those days improved my memory because if I had to share something with my cousin, I had to wait till we met. The experience of sharing was personal. Today, even a random friend on Facebook knows what am I doing and where did I go?

We all keep listening to a statement “change is the only constant”. During our growing days there was an added catalyst to this change called “SPEED”. As time passed everything caught speed. People could talk to each other immediately. So, when they met, they had nothing to share. We could travel to places within no time. So, we started exploring tourist place and reduced spending vacation with extended family. Our parents became grandparents when they still had energy and enthusiasm in life. This made them become care takers for grandchildren rather than carefree enjoyment of innocence. Children grew up so fast that they are their own guide and started feeling rest of the world is way behind their futuristic thoughts.

Among all these speedy changes came the speed breaker: Covid 19. This made us halt and relive our life. Sandwich generation who enjoyed life of both worlds is given opportunity to recreate magic. We are the ones who know what we had, what we got and what is being missed. We are the ones who know how present day can be made interesting. Because we lived when colour TV and land-line came to our life and also this changed to internet TV and mobile phones. So here is the chance. Working parents can spend time with their growing kids. Care taking grandparents can become carefree again. Being locked down reinvented the joy of meeting family and friends. Covid changed our perception of looking at crowd and traffic. Covid acted as a negative catalyst to speed and remains as a positive catalyst to change.

We still want to take break from our routine life but now we want to be with family. We still want to update Facebook and Whats app status but also want to know our family and friends safety first. We are given the opportunity to help our new generation understand the value of life along with a reminder to self and make our older generation proud by not letting them down by forgetting what they taught us about life.

Life values us if we value life.

 Let’s not wait for another pandemic to teach us to value the value of what we have. Our older generation gave us a lively childhood, soulful youth and taught us to show gratitude towards what we have. Let’s pass it on to our future and teach them to add more taste to the Sandwich.