How do you do this???
Y'all, I'm 51F and relatively new to everything that's required as a POA for an adult in their 2nd childhood. My 82 yr old mom is very shaky & falls every couple of weeks, but for the most part, she's still mobile. She still has her drivers license. She still thinks she's 40 years old and doesn't need to slow her roll. I can't get her to stop driving after 10pm, much less after dark (when her cataracts make her see 3 moons). I've been her POA for only a handful of months, yet I'm already dreaming about taking a vacation somewhere far, FAR away. I read y'alls posts about having been caring for your parent(s) for years without a break, and I just don't know how you do it. Every day I'm waking up just as tired as when I went to bed. I'm not as present for my child as I want to be. I feel tapped, and as my mom's only child, I also feel trapped. Morally, I feel obliged to help my mother, because she's my mother. But she vacillates between being cantankerous & confused, mean & needy. I have internal arguments with myself because she was never a support for me as a child. She's a narcissist, so in one way or another, I've been her caretaker since I was 5 yrs old. I shouldn't have to keep making sacrifices for someone who's never made a single sacrifice for me. But here I am. What's a good time of year to visit the East Coast (Maine, Connecticut, Vermont, etc)? When's a good time to spend a week in Greece? I doubt that I'll ever get to go to these places any time while my mom's alive, but a girl can dream... right? Or am I not allowed to dream either? 🤷♀️