The idea came to me when my Mother was passing. I was 38, had just lost my last pregnancy (invitro), owned my own business with my husband, his adult daughter was in recovery for the X time and I was hearing about the “sandwich generation”. People with children caring for their parents and their children at the same time. That was me. But I also had a company to run, clients that depended on me as well as employees and their families who were also dependents on me generating enough profit to keep all of us whole—I was the “entrepreneurial sandwich generation”—which to me seemed exponentially more overwhelming than the regular sandwich generation. Not to disparage any of the regular sandwich generation participants, it was just a lot for me. And the idea of the ewich was born. But I am not alone in this, and there was more to come.
My step daughter became pregnant and eventually could not care for that child. Our marriage and the business were the ultimate casualties. Fights over where time was spent, enabling her, debt, the business, etc. consumed our lives. And completely killed my joy. So much so that on the eve of my 50th birthday I was truly questioning whether I wanted to see my 51st birthday. So I made a plan to sell our assets and satisfy the debt, filed for divorce, bought my spouse out of the business and took the child. NOTE: I am not recommending anyone else follow my path. But it did work for me, my family, my ex-spouse, my employees and my business. And this plan of action was not taken into lightly. I put A LOT OF TIME into planning and executing this scenario with the assistance of a life coach and other advisors.
And I reclaimed my joy.