MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish

OMG, me too, Barbe!  It took forever, but all's well that ends well.  Hats off to The Mods/Techs.

Below, I am going to write for ALL who have misunderstood my opener over the last two years to think that it did not include them.  Then, after I do that, I think I will finally make changes to the opening post for all future reference.  To clarify:

"We aren't young with small children."  

You may be in this age group and have a toddler, I don't care; but if you have already had your fortieth birthday, I no longer consider you technically "young."   Now, I just know there is a forty-and-a-half-year-old out there, with a 3 year old, who still feels "young."  You can always be an interloper on the "younger" forum, and talk about early childhood topics there but in a short time you will come to realize that most of them are "thirty-somethings" and even "twenty-somethings" (poor young B/C sisters) and those decades are pretty much a rerun for you.

"Many of us have just gotten to the stage where we were all set to enjoy the freedom of our kids being grown..."

I used to say "Most..." but downgraded that to "Many..." which meant not ALL of us had grown kids by this time.  I did take that into account.  There are some women here who's kids are ALL grown up, have lived elsewhere for some years and have graced them with grandchildren.  But I still think I hit the nail on the head with many who have teens or twenties.  Seems like this time of life is when we start to get our own lives back (a little) and the last way we pictured spending it was getting the old "slash, burn and/or poison."  

"We aren't retired yet..."

Maybe you made your bundle early or Uncle Sam was your boss.  Or you were forced out during downsizing or ill health.  But most are still working and that's a challenge.  I'm also saying this thread is not really going to focus on Medicare topics.  If you are a middle-aged, at home mom, I still include you, because I fully respect your laborious toil and hope you have your own retirement account too.

"We might have to care for an elderly parent on days when we feel like we could use a caregiver ourselves."

This is a special demand that does primarily hit this age group.  Some have other people caring for an elderly parent and some have lost a parent or both, but it is a time when the mortality of our parents is very real.  I think of it as the final stage of our "growing up."  But that's just me.

Blah, blah, that's enough about that.  I've said before that even I don't fit the description to a tee.  Now I will see if I can put a modifier up there.  What if I made it a lot more specific, wouldn't that be funny?   ("Most of us have sons named Justin, drive a three year old car, and prefer snacking on Cheetos.")  That last one just might be true!