That’s sort of how my 1099’s (jobs) worked too. My last one was for 25 hrs. a week, pretty so-so hourly pay rate, and actual time was more like 40 hours a week (higher on travel weeks once a month or so to / from the customer/”employer”, well over 1k miles away). OTOH I really dig the work, and on non-travel weeks there was lots of flexibility to work in care for my Mom (even if I was up @ 3 a.m. - might be for Mom, might be for work, or some of both. Even half(?) the travel weeks were on my schedule as much or more than theirs.)
My “notice” came several days ago (CEO phone call to me on a Sunday afternoon! - he was making others, too) - I should be jealous.
No bitterness here, tho’. My customer really wanted to hire me as a regular employee and have me move there, but made special allowance so I could be here for my Mom, and has been very very flexible and helpful in other regards too.
The biggest problem is that the products I specialize in are very much a discretionary (even semi-luxury) consumer item, and a poor economy just devastates sales in that category. (See 2001 [late] - 2003, and worse, 2008-10). This time ‘round, I expect much worse: over 50% contraction in this product area. Maybe 70% or more. Duration: at least 2 years, judging from prior experience, if things go well.
Hard course correction at (almost) 65... If I can find a “lane”. ;-)
It gets a little more challenging to find positions when you're in the mid-60's age range.