The Book
Just For A Couple
Of Weeks
by Jack Rikess
A darkly comedic, emotionally honest account of what happens when a son flies to Scottsdale to help his aging parents — and a couple of weeks turns into something much longer.
About the Book
Aging Parents, Arizona Heat, and Surviving Each Other
When the call comes — and it always comes — you think you're ready. You think it'll be a couple of weeks. You'll fly to Scottsdale, get your parents sorted, and be back to your life before anyone notices you were gone.
Just For A Couple Of Weeks is the story of what happens when it isn't. When the weeks stretch into something unrecognizable, when your parents are both more fragile and more stubborn than you imagined, and when the family dynamics you thought you'd outgrown come roaring back in a two-bedroom house in the Arizona heat.
With the sharp eye of a former stand-up comedian and the raw honesty of a son who lived it, Jack Rikess writes about caregiving the way nobody else does — with love, exhaustion, and the kind of dark humor that only comes from being in the room.
Setting
Scottsdale, Arizona
Themes
Family · Caregiving · Identity
Tone
Darkly comedic · Emotionally honest
Author
Jack Rikess
"Nobody tells you how long a couple of weeks can be — or how much of yourself you'll leave behind in someone else's house."
— Jack Rikess, From the Author's Desk
What Readers Are Saying
Honest. Funny. Uncomfortably True.
"I laughed, I cringed, I called my parents. In that order."
— Reader Review
"Rikess writes about caregiving the way it actually feels — messy, funny, and completely overwhelming."
— Reader Review
"The most honest book I've read about what it means to show up for your family when you have no idea what you're doing."
— Reader Review
Get the Book
Pick up Just For A Couple Of Weeks and find out what happens when a couple of weeks turns into something much longer.