All my aunts, uncles, and both my parents are very stressed and worried while having to care for my grandparents. All of the awaiting doctors' results and planning weekends leaves everyone feeling on edge most of the time. It's a lot easier for them to get mad at one another over who does what around the house. My aunts even bicker back and forth over who does more and petty things like that when this is the time where everyone needs to cooperate.

Sometimes it just seems as if my aunts and uncles treat my grandparents as a burden but we all, except my Uncle T.C. (who lives in Florida), don't live too far away from them. My Aunt Nikki refused to do a weekend the whole month of January because of the "bad weather" and the drive is "too long". She lives in Baltimore about an hour away from my grandparents; exactly the same amount of time it takes my family to get there and yet, we haven't missed a weekend. My Aunts Lorri and Eunice complain because they "do too much" and need "breaks". It makes me so angry because these are their PARENTS. Who have birthed, fed, supported, housed, cared for and more. They did this twenty four-seven for their kids' entire lives but all the sudden when they become ill and need their children for  weekends, it's too hard, too much work and everyone suddenly needs a break. I understand life gets in the way but again, this is their parents and I just feel like it is nothing but whining and fighting.

I might be biased because they are my parents, but I really feel as if they put in a lot of the effort to pick up the slack. This is my Dad's family but he works on weekend nights and visits almost every day during the week. My Mom is the one who goes on our family's behalf for the weekend turns. This isn't even her blood family and she's never been close with my aunts or my grandparents but she still goes on weekends by herself to take care of them. My Mom will bake for my grandparents and spend time with them on weekends that aren't even hers just to help out since my Dad is having a rough time with the fact that he can't be there when he needs to be. She does so much for everyone and sometimes it seems like my aunts don't appreciate it. They just expected her to go on weekends by herself from the get go.

Whenever we have important events going on, because life does get in the way, my family will just trade weekends. My Mom asked for two weekends in June to have switched with someone because one is my brother's high school graduation, and the other is her grandpa's funeral. She's asked in advance when the new schedule came out about a month ago for those weekends to be traded and my aunts' responses were questioning why her grandpa's funeral was in the summer even though he died in October and followed by: "We don't know what we're doing those weekends yet so we can't commit." Keep in mind my Mom has even taken ( yes, taken and not switched) a weekend for my Aunt Lorri because she was "overwhelmed" and surprise! no one else stepped up to help.

It really just bothers me how my aunt's always demand respect, all the while half the things they do and say are just flat out stupid.