Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Wherefore art I "Squashed"?

I have, lately, had a few people wondering and asking about the origin of my blog's name, and my related nickname/twitter handle.

They want to know why my blog is called "The Squashed Bologna: a slice of life in the sandwich generation" and I call myself "The Squashed Mom."  What's squashing me? 

Literally squashed between my boys & my parents, March 2009
I didn't think this was such a head-scratcher.  I figured appending the subtitle "a slice of life in the sandwich generation" would have made everything clear.  

But apparently?  Not.

So here to set the record straight is my blog name's genesis story, plucked from my first post on February 6th, 2010 (with a few edits):

In February 2005 my very elderly parents moved back to New York from Florida, ostensibly to be nearer to their adorable then 2 year-old twin grandsons.  In reality, so I could take care of them, too. 

That was when I realized what it meant to be a part of that often cited “Sandwich Generation” demographic.  

I am especially so because I am an older parent who is also the daughter of older parents. Common for my generation / locale / socioeconomic milieu. Very uncommon for theirs. Heard often at my suburban elementary school, when my parents came to an event: ”Oh, your grandparents are here.”

I chose to call my blog “The Squashed Bologna” because that’s what I started saying, at first laughingly, then later less so, as the responsibilities of intensive elder care bumped up against the all encompassing, wonderful maelstrom that is the parenting of young children: “Oh, this is ‘the sandwich generation’, that must be why I feel like the squashed meat in the middle all the time.”

So there it is folks, it's "The Squashed Bologna" because I felt, and still often feel, like the squashed meat in the middle.  Add the autism and ADD into the equation and it's like sticking a 100 lb. weight on top.  I guess that means I've been turned into a pressed sandwich, a living croque-madame.

And then when I joined Twitter in April 2010, I naturally became @SquashedMom.

Also, about the pronunciation?

My "Bologna" is the sandwich meat ("sandwich generation" - duh), not the city in Italy, so pronounce it like "baloney" - "buh-low-nee" NOT "boh-low-nya".

Why did I spell it "Bologna" then?

Because, like I said in this post, spelling bologna "baloney" is just WRONG.  Oscar Mayer had me trained right at a young age.

Any other questions?


Posted by Varda at 11:45 PM
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