Immediate Family
My husband Mike and I have been married 51 years. We have three children: Elder Daughter age 50, Younger Daughter age 48, and C-Boy age 35. SD has a Most Beloved Partner, now fiancee. C-Boy gifted us with Perfect Daughter-in-Law, age 34 followed with the adorable baby LLJ, born in 2021 and Charlie, born in 2022. (Names changed to protect the guilty). Currently YD, MBP, C-Boy, P-DiL and LLJ and Charlie live in Chicago. Elder Daughter and her two sons, Blue Boy age 18, and Mowgli age 16, share our house and over-size yard.
To be clear
…we share the house. ED is financially independent but single (husband long gone), the arrangement allowing us to help out with carpooling, babysitting on late evenings and when ED travels, and just being grandparents. We also eat well because ED loves to cook.
Pets
We have a dog, which astounds close friends who are aware of my impatience with animals. C-Boy’s now deceased American Bulldog Jigga was fostered to ED when he moved to Chicago. The fostering became full-time parenting. During the years, we all fell in love with this remarkable animal. Our hearts were broken when we had to put Jigga down, so Luna, a basset-lab mix, was adopted to be the object of our love.
And Others
We have plenty of extended family nearby and actually all get along. Pre-Covid, we had an active social life, opening our home frequently for casual entertaining.
Blessed
This arrangement has many challenges which come from our blessings: a loving, quirky family (isn’t every family quirky?), adequate financial resources, relatively good health, and great friends allowing for many choices and opportunities.