Even in the good years, getting through a trip around the sun can feel like a Herculean effort. Each lunar cycle brings its own particular rewards and challenges. If you are helping to manage your children’s and parents’ lives (a.k.a Living the Jam Gen), your day-to-day calendar fills up exponentially and your “To Do” list runneth over. Sleep is typically in short supply. Occasionally you actually have to resort to ordering in fast food, which you consider a sign of abject failure but also greet with a sense of relief (everyone needs a night off from cooking, right?). You are grateful for your Roomba (last year’s Christmas gift from your ever-practical spouse), but wish that Alexa or Siri would help out more around the house. Then again, maybe it is time to crack the whip over your children more – after all, they are the ones making most of the mess.

In any event, here are the realities of getting through the calendar year:

September – They don’t call it Labour Day for nothing –  because it’s the day right after this holiday that all hell breaks loose! School starts. Music lessons start. Sports activities start. Foreign language lessons start. The bills start accumulating. There are forms to sign, donations to make, volunteer activities to join, teachers to meet, kids to motivate. For my money, this is truly the beginning of the year. January, with its resolutions, is for wimps. September is about fortitude and forbearance. And then everyone in the household gets their first cold of the season.

October – The month of fretting – first about Thanksgiving and then Halloween. You go from carving the turkey to carving pumpkins in the span of two weeks. In between you worry about how to dress the kids on October 31^st and whether you’ll have enough candy for the hoards of trick or treaters. Meanwhile, you start worrying about if the winter boots and snowsuits from last season still fit or if you need to reprovision the kids again this year. The only thing worse is trying to find winter boots in February (voice of experience here!). The long-term care home calls to get consent to administer the flu vaccine to your parent and now you have to decide if you (and the rest of the family) are going to get one as well.

November – Nothing to see here, folks! Move along.

December – OK, even if November is a bit grey and dull, at least it is the calm before the storm. In December your life suddenly bursts into flame. A marathon month of socializing, shopping and shipping. An endless stream of cards to write and gifts to wrap – oh my, you almost forgot Cousin Kim’s cat AGAIN! In the midst of all this, you are expected to calmly sit through your kids’ holiday concerts where they (collectively) sing and play badly. The gym is hot and crowded, the benches hard. It’s been 90 minutes and your offspring hasn’t even appeared yet! It’s a school night – you, er, she needs to get to bed. But at least the extra-curriculars are winding down and eventually school comes to a close as well. Only to be filled with baking, cooking and more socializing. It’s all a blur and the house is full of orphaned glitter.

January – Officially it may be the beginning of the year, but in reality that was September. Instead, January is the month of atonement. That’s what all those New Year’s resolutions are about, isn’t it? Regret for all the excesses of December, as proven by the extra pounds and the credit card bills. This is the morning-after-the-night-before month. Everyone is suffering from a hangover even though they haven’t had a drink since December 31^st. Off to the gym! Off to a weight loss program! Off to a financial advisor! Off with your head – for surely you’ve completely lost it thinking these things will stick. As for the kids, you resume the hectic fall pace – except now everyone is wearing parkas and winter boots. There is slush and salt inside your front door. January may well be the most miserable month of the year in the Northern Hemisphere until …

February – Welcome to February! Another month of miserable winter weather. The nursing home has gone into lockdown due to an outbreak of flu. The bills from December have been paid, but now you’ve maxed out your credit card with a trip south. Valentine’s Day beckons with its tawdry thrills of too-sweet cards and chocolates. The best that can be said of February that it is short, even in the years when it is longer than usual.

March – A celebratory month. You’ve made it through the darkest days of winter. Now you can celebrate by drinking green beer and losing an hour of sleep when the clocks spring forward. Perhaps a beach resort or cruise offers respite for a few days – a change AND a break! Certainly the Easter Bunny and the chocolate are threatening to turn up soon, although the March Hare has been known to get delayed to April some years. …

April – April showers may bring May flowers, but they also bring mud. Lots and lots of mud. Mud on the kids’ shoes, on the dog’s paws, in the car, in the house. You find it in the bottom of the bathtub after the kids have had a bath. If they haven’t, you find it in your bed after your little ones have snuck into it at night. Or is it a melted chocolate Easter egg? You certainly hope that’s what it is! The long-term care home calls to report that your parent’s dentures have gone missing.

May – The end of the year is in sight. Nothing screams “summer” like Victoria Day/Memorial Day, except maybe the annual hatching of the blackflies. In between there is Mother’s Day, the one day a year a mother is officially allowed to have “off” – unless, of course, she is in charge of organizing Mother’s Day brunch for her mother or mother-in-law. On the upside, nothing can beat those beautiful crafts the kids will give you on your special day for you to treasure the rest of your life (which will be especially cherished during the teenage years – trust me!).

June – Whew! You’ve made it. The marathon that is the school year is finally over. The kids survived their final assignments and exams, and you survived the kids. The year-end performances are done – another interminable trip to the hot and overcrowded gym, except that opening the windows doesn’t help cool things down this time. The report cards have arrived, and the tutoring and battles over homework can take a vacation. You celebrate the dad(s) in your life on Father’s Day. New problem: what the heck to do with the kids all summer?

July – Arguably the best month of the year. The weather is pleasant. Everything seems to have slowed down a little. The cottage and lake beckon. The kids are away at camp and you send them dutiful emails about how much you miss them. Ah – the livin’ is easy! Somewhere mid month you realize this is a trial balloon for retirement – and that you like it. A lot.

August – The month of the annual family vacation. Seemed like a good idea when you planned it in January, but now you’re not so sure. All of you stuck together for hours at a time in the plane, car, hotel room, cottage. Rain, rain go away! Thank heavens for the pool/lake. But what to do with all the laundry the family is generating? The back-to-school sales are raging and that means the hamster wheel is just around the corner. … Why can’t summer be just a little longer?

And there you have the annual circle of life in the Jam Gen. Except everyone is a year older. And wiser? Certainly a little more bruised and worn. … But you’ve made it through – just in time to begin the battle anew! Congratulations!! You are a survivor.