2 Comments
User's avatar
Jennifer L.W. Fink's avatar

Well dang -- now I've got another book to buy & read! ;) What she's saying, though, and what you're saying here is so real & true to me & my experience, and the more I think about it, CARE is what we are all supposed to do here. We are a social, interdependent species. There's been so much written & discussed about the burdens of caregiving in recent years -- and yes, I believe it's important to acknowledge the hard work & how it's impact on our lives --- but not nearly enough discussion of the positives of caregiving. I love this sentence from your post: " Care is rich, messy, hard, transcendent, filled with the kind of productive friction that brings us deep insights."

Expand full comment
Kate Mangino's avatar

HAHA! Another book for your pile! (Though to be honest I listened to Elissa's book and loved the narrator.) You know, several years I ago I had this moment... I thought, "what would my kids think if they read all these articles about the burden of care?" They would have been hurt! And since then I've tried to be more intentional to also talk about how great caregiving is as well as pointing out the challenges.

Expand full comment