Is there anything wrong with "sprinkled in" ? And what does "family transitions" refer to?
My family is still recovering from the rainy season of the past couple of years. It began with the untimely death of one of my husband’s friends, then sprinkled in some major family transitions (including a move across the sea), postpartum anxiety, the loss of two beloved pets and health concerns with aging parents. Not necessarily atypical stuff for people in their 40s to face, and we were dealing. But then the bottom dropped out: My teenaged stepson became critically ill. The autoimmune disease, vasculitis, led to kidney failure and an ongoing need for dialysis.

Question

Answer

Hello,

Here ‘sprinkling’ is being used as a verb. ‘Sprinkled in’ means that an amount of something (generally a small amount) has been added. This expression is commonly used in cooking, such as ‘Sprinkle in some salt’. In this case the thing that was added to the character’s life was ‘family transitions’ which can also mean family changes. So by saying ‘sprinkled in’ the author is introducing us to a few of the key changes in the character’s family that came after the dead of her husband’s friend.

Please let me know if you nees further explanation!