Little Big Town's Kimberly Schlapman opens up about sandwich generation guilt, caregiving, motherhood and caring for her elderly mother with Parkinson's disease.

Kimberly Schlapman experienced intense guilt while preparing for a Little Big Town show because her mother, living with Parkinson’s disease, was struggling at home and other family needs were also pressing. Messages during soundcheck added to her spiraling feelings that she was needed elsewhere. Jimmy Westbrook noticed her distraction and told her to “go be yourself,” which Schlapman said released the burden on her shoulders. She recently moved closer to her hometown to help care for her 78-year-old mother while raising two daughters with her husband. She described guilt as frequent, especially when touring means missing important moments like her daughter’s activities. Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurological disorder that affects movement control as dopamine-producing brain cells break down over time.

"Backstage before a recent Little Big Town show, Kimberly Schlapman could feel the guilt swallowing her whole. Her mother, Barbara Bramlett, who has been living with Parkinson's disease for more than two decades, was struggling back home. One of her daughters needed her. And as texts about family issues piled up on her phone during soundcheck, Schlapman, 56, found herself spiraling over a feeling familiar to so many women caring for both children and aging parents: the sense that no matter where you are, someone you love still needs you somewhere else."

"Then, moments before she walked onstage, fellow Little Big Town member Jimmy Westbrook pulled her aside. He had noticed she'd been distracted all day, consumed with guilt and beating herself up over all the places she felt she should be instead. "Just go be yourself," he told her. "That's all people want you to do." The sentence, Schlapman tells TODAY.com, "released the burden off my shoulders.""

"For the Grammy-winning singer, who recently moved closer to her hometown in order to help care for her 78-year-old mother, the moment crystallized the emotional reality of life in the so-called 'sandwich generation,' balancing kids, careers and marriages while simultaneously caring for ill or elderly parents. The singer and her husband, Stephen Schlapman, are raising two daughters, Daisy, 18, and Dolly Grace, 9. "The guilt comes in all the time," she says. "I'm on the road doing shows with Little Big Town, and my mom's at home having a bad day, or my daughter's at home with a ballet recital that I'm gonna miss.""

"For Schlapman, the hardest part has been watching the disease gradually chip away at the fiercely capable woman who once seemed invincible. Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurological disorder that affects the brain's ability to control movement. The condition happens when dopamine-producing brain cells begin to break down over time, according to the Mayo Clinic."

Read at TODAY.com