No offense intended, but when I hear of a family riddled with distrust, anger, and even denial about their situation or condition of their parents, I most often envision a wrecked car. Can’t help it. It’s the first image that comes to mind.

There it stands: Not just dings, but serious dents, a missing headlight, duct tape holding the rearview mirror together, and so on. My job as an elder mediator is checking whether the car can travel to its destination. It’s NOT to try to repair the car.

I won’t know whether the car can travel all the way, however, until all the passengers get in the car. [Read more…]