Wonder if my house is big enough for 3 generations under its' roof?

[Randi]

I invited my dad to come stay with my son & me from T'giving to Christmas. I hope I did the right thing.

My son is 36 and disabled, on oxygen 24/7, and travel to my dad's is so complicated that I have only attempted it once last year. Only a distance of 200 miles, but so involved with all the equipment needed.

My dad is 84 and fighting colon cancer. He is in relatively good physical health, tumor is shrinking. But his mental attitude is not so good. Very lonely. He has a good friend who helps him out. The people he usually spends holidays with have moved out of state so the situation seemed bleak this year for him.

I have to work so for me to get the time off would be hard and I wouldn't want to make the trip 2x in a short period.

So I asked him to come here. And he actually sounded like he might do it! Getting him here would not be a problem, as his friend could bring him 1/2 way. As long as his doctors OK it, I think it would work. He is very mobile, drives all over, shops and cooks, etc. It would just be another person in the house. And I would have to be neater as he hates clutter.

Anybody have any tips or things I shouldn't overlook to prepare for it? Or am I just plain asking for major STRESS????

 

[dmslush]

Oh, I'm sure it will be fine!!! We actually have three generations that live in this house FULL TIME, and three of them are all female. There is mom, dd, me, dbrother, and my SO. We love it this way and couldn't imagine not being all together. Mom raised brother and myself by herself, as a single mom. So, she doesn't have a real nest egg so to speak. So, when purchasing a house, we decided that since we knew we would have to take care of mom, we should all get used to being together now.

 

[minkydog]

I think that's a great idea! When i was little we moved 1000 miles away from "home". Like you, my parents were unable to take trips with 5 kids in the winter time. My dad's parents would drive all the way down to see us every year at Thanksgiving and stay for 5 wks(we were their only grandchildren.) My GM baked pies and cakes like crazy. My GF would take all us out in the afternoon Cokes. Sometimes they would take all the kids to Woolworths and let us buy our Christmas presents. Then we'd go home and wrap them ourselves.I'm sure it was difficult on my mom, with 5 kids and only one bathroom. But we all bunked up and made it work. I'm glad we did it then, because GM didn't live long enough to see me graduate high school.

It sounds like a workable solution to a difficult problem. Of the two, your dad is the more "portable" and it sounds like it would do him good to visit you during the holidays.