DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: I am a PCA (personal care aide) and have been since my daughter was born. I am a single parent, but am very lucky to have family and friends nearby and caring enough to help me with childcare when I work overnights and weekends and holidays, when my daughter’s regular daycare is closed.

My company knows I am reliable and professional and they often ask me to cover extra shifts, which is good money with the OT, so I take them whenever I can, especially now when my daughter is still really little.

I love my job, and for now it is really working out for me. My biggest problem is I get very attached to the people I care for and sometimes their whole families, and when my patients pass or get moved to a nursing home or hospice care, I get depressed for a week and sometimes more. I bring that sadness home to my daughter. That makes me feel bad, but I know she is still too little to know when Mommy’s sad.

My mom and dad tell me I should aim higher for a job, so they are the last people I want to let know about when I am sad from my work.

Do you think it is okay to get this attached and then this sad if this is what my job is kind of all about, because all the people I work with are under care for a reason? Regardless of what my parents say about getting a “better” job, I think mine is one of the best ones for me. --- GET TOO CLOSE

DEAR GET TOO CLOSE: Thank you for taking on this difficult profession, and yes, I think it’s perfectly normal to become attached to those in your care and their loved ones.

Although it isn’t always emotionally easy on you, you sound like exactly the kind of person I’d want caring for me or someone close to me. And I imagine many of your patients, even those in poor condition, are aware of and grateful for your dedication to them.

Since you’re not comfortable going to your parents with your feelings, perhaps you could reach out for support to coworkers, managers from your agency, or instructors you met through training. Those who’ve experienced the same stresses and strains you’re facing may prove to be excellent resources for the support you’re needing to help you process your end of assignment feelings.

DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: Recently our youngest sibling — of five children total — graduated high school. This marks the end of a long chapter in their life, as well as an even longer chapter in our mother’s life.

Our mom has selflessly spent the last nearly three decades of her life taking and picking her children up from school(always on time too! We were never tardy!), attending awards ceremonies, promotions, graduations, sports, extracurricular activities, school plays, parent-teacher conferences, open houses, musicals, and all the other school events that we participated in.

Our mother has devoted so much of her time, love, attention, care, and lifetime to her children, never asking for anything in return.

Needless to say, we are so incredibly grateful, and we truly could never thank her enough for everything she has sacrificed and done for us. We wouldn’t be where we are today nor made it through school without her. We are beyond proud to call her our mother.

We know this isn’t a question, but we wanted the world to know that this incredible woman exists and has generously given so much of herself to improve the lives of her children.

We love and respect our mom in immeasurable amounts, and we just wanted to take this space to give her the special recognition that she truly deserves!

Thank you, Mom. We’re eternally grateful for ALL that you’ve given us throughout these years. We hope this next chapter in your life brings you all the joy and excitement that you deserve!

We love you so very much!! --- DWARBLERS RULE!

DEAR DWARBLERS RULE!: Thank you for your loving tribute to your mom and all she’s done for your family over so many years.

She’s indeed entering a new phase of life, one filled with its own challenges and rewards.

I wish her and your family well, and encourage you to keep an eye on her during what promises to be one of the biggest transitions of her life. It’s not the easiest to make, but it sounds like she’s got plenty of support, should she need it.

DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: By the time my second child was in kindergarten, I was a single mother of two, who had to go back to work fulltime to support our family with next to zip help from my ex, who eventually fell off the map altogether. The last time I heard anything about him was he had moved overseas with his new wife and was sponging off her family.

So, you could say I didn’t have the best marital experience. The good thing that came out of my time as a single mom was that I learned to be extremely independent, and got really good at it. I didn’t have anyone to bounce ideas off of, or to have to wait around for when I had to make a decision.

My daughter has been married for just under two years now, and even though I love her husband like a son, it drives me absolutely beyond nuts when she refuses to do anything without having her husband be part of it.

I agree they should decide big things as a couple, but I have yet to see my daughter decide anything on her own, including the week’s dinner plans, without having to have her husband directly involved in the decision. She tells me how important it is that they decide things together, otherwise, “What kind of marriage will it be,” she says.

I may have the wrong idea about this, because I had no choice other than to make things happen all by myself, but don’t you think a competent adult woman should be able to and allow herself to call at least some shots all by herself? --- NEEDS HIS APPROVAL

DEAR NEEDS HIS APPROVAL: Just as your outlook is tempered by your experiences, so too is your daughter’s. It’s possible she perceived your having to handle so much by yourself as a burden you faced all alone, but one that she would rather share with a partner.

I suspect as time goes by, their lives get busier, and they build a little more experience with divvying up the responsibilities that come with the territory of being adults, they might yet develop more independence, or at least realize there are instances where only one decision-maker needs to be involved.