When my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1998, I flew from my home in New York City back to my parents' farm in Iowa one weekend every month for more than a year to help my mother care for him. It was a tough time. I was exhausted from traveling, juggling responsibilities with my own family and worrying about my mother — and, on top of that, I was concerned that the time and energy I was spending to help my parents would have a detrimental effect on my work performance, my career and ultimately, my finances.
