PART TWO

Getting Ready for the Other Talk

As our parent care crisis mushroomed, my brothers and I became so busy solving problems—

Arranging and rearranging living conditions

Negotiating with doctors and insurance companies and medicare administrators

Determining the extent of the financial assets

Dispensing with the stack of unpaid bills

Selling cars and furniture and a garage full of stuff

—that we lost sight of the most important need: facing this most human of experiences together.

—Jason, focus group participant