Caring Even if It Hurts

Chapter four tells a story of emotional strain that travels on the circuits of multidirectional care just as the care work that is undergirded with love and warmth. The emotionality in care work specifically during trying times of anger, guilt and disappointment illustrates that a care work is still attended to even through the pains of their transnational relationship. It follows families moving in and out of growing pains, some faster than others. The chapter demonstrates that while care work travels multidirectionally, strain follows those circuits of care as well. And yet, families under emotional distress or disappointment can still participate in the labor of caring. The stories here actively pull apart the idealized notion that “care work” always comes from nurturance, love and warmth rather focusing on the work of sustaining the transnational family whether members feel gratified or good about that work.