I'm just... feeling really off lately. It's this whole thing with my parents, well, more my mother really. She called me the other day, saying Grandma's having a lot of trouble getting around. Like, real trouble. Apparently, she fell again. Not a bad fall, just kinda… tipped over. And now she needs help getting up from the chair. My mom said it like it was just a regular update, but I could hear it in her voice, that little tremor she gets when she's trying to act tough but inside she's freaking out. And I'm sitting here, miles away, trying to focus on this new report, this NEW BIG THING that's supposed to get me noticed, and all I can think about is Grandma trying to get out of her favorite armchair and falling. It's just… a lot. My own kids are grown, doing their own thing, off at college, barely call, which is fine, I guess. That's what you want, right? For them to be independent. But then you look at your own parents, and suddenly they're the ones who seem… smaller. More fragile. And I'm supposed to be this big shot, climbing the ladder, showing everyone I can do it. My boss just gave me this huge project, said it's a "make or break" kind of deal for my career trajectory. And here I am, thinking about grab bars in the bathroom and how long it's been since I actually went to visit. I send flowers, I call, I listen to my mom complain, but it's not the same. And I feel like such an idiot even putting this out there. Like, who cares about my little anxieties when there's real stuff happening? But it just feels like… everything's coming at me from all sides. The job, trying to prove myself, worrying about mom and grandma, and just… the general feeling of being stuck in this weird in-between spot. Too old for some things, not old enough for others. It just makes me feel really tired, you know? Like I'm constantly running a race I didn't even sign up for. And now this. Grandma. It's just… another thing to worry about. And I don't know what I'm supposed to do.