About

My name is Maureen Mueller, and I am a Southern California wife, mother, grandmother, teacher and caretaker. While in my senior year at Southern California College (now Vanguard University), I accepted an invitation from a friend to attend a concert at the original Calvary Chapel- the one in Costa Mesa, of course! After the concert, my friend introduced me to his friend Mark. That was in March of 1983. By December, we were married. Ten years later, Mark was pastoring a small church in Oxnard, and we had four children, ages 6 and under. Our children enjoyed the love and devotion of two sets of healthy, energetic grandparents who all lived about two hours away. Now, at the end of 2016, our children are grown, we have three grandchildren, and while it’s our desire to shower them with the same love and attention that our parents gave our children, other demands on our time make that difficult. You see, for the past 10 years or so, Mark and I have been members of The Sandwich Generation. We had 2 in college and our youngest daughter was in high school when my father-in-law started needing my help getting him to his cancer treatments. When he passed on, I had to cut back on teaching so I could take care of my mother-in-law full time.

When you start caring for a parent, there are so many adjustments to be made, and you find that you have less freedom to visit, travel or even work, for that matter. We’ve come a long way in the past 7 years, and right now Grandma is happy and healthy for an 87 year old who chooses not to leave her bed; but our situation could change at any moment, and we need to be prepared for it.

Mark and I certainly don’t have all the answers, but we’re making the best of our situation. We’d like to share some of our trials and triumphs, and we invite you in as we face the future, sandwiched between kids and parents.