Origin Story

The use of Origin Story is very intentional. Because anyone facing, going through, or on the other side of eldercare can definitely claim superhero status. 

My primary power: Project managing the sh*t out of the end of life. 

My kryptonite: A dearth of alcohol at the end of an eldercare day.

My amateur eldercare expertise was not developed professionally, but personally.  

The stage was set 48 years ago when my parents became unexpectedly — I mean joyfully! — pregnant with me. (Some call that an “oops” baby, I prefer miracle.) They were in their late 30s, which was unusual for the times. My Dad would get dirty looks when he went to the store with kindergartner me and my teenage sister, his apparent child bride. 

Next, I fell for a guy who had the exact same family structure. Namely, parents and siblings 10 years older than our peers. Now add the family friends who were like a second set of parents to me, and my husband’s late in life stepfather. By age 38 we had a newborn (because late in life babies are all the rage now), two full-time jobs, five of those seven elders living within a three-hour drive, and our three siblings living across the country. 

That’s the recipe for Scooby-sized Sandwich Generation end-of-life learnings.

In my son’s first five years we managed the death, dying, end of life, and estate aftermath for five octogenarians. In the last five years, we supported our remaining mothers in making interstate moves. In March of 2020, I was psyched to secure a spot for my mom in a beautiful “rest home” one mile from where we live (because nobody expects a global pandemic). Yup, eldercare in the age of the Coronavirus is my unexpected new skill set.

Most recently I served as a sounding board for my Uncle’s move to an Alzheimer’s facility in July, recalibrated around the absent octogenarian next-door neighbor who died in August, managed my mother’s cancer diagnosis in September, and supported her family when her brother died in November. Apparently eldercare experiences never really go out of vogue!

The inspiration to create my website derived from how much I had to learn over the last decade. And how often I find myself using that knowledge to inform and support others’ eldercare “undertakings.”

I am passionate about helping caregivers shorten their eldercare learning curve, avoid reinventing the wheel, realize they are not alone, have compassion for their family and themselves, weather the sandwich generation squeeze, and laugh loudly and irreverently, even in their darkest hours. 

Rachel Lee thrives on helping, connecting, and problem solving, and has a reputation for being an over-the-top provocateur. She has a BA in nonfiction writing, an MA in Counseling Psychology, and has worked as a teacher, editor, writer, and project manager of processes, projects, and people (both dead and alive). She lives in Massachusetts with her family, French Bulldog, baby Boxer, and very demanding Bearded Dragon.