When you are moving to a retirement home, the question arises: can I take the car? Will I need the car? Without a car, how will I have transportation when I need it? We Americans love our cars. They give us a feeling of independence. A car in the parking lot means: We are not […]
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One of the reasons people move to elder communities is that they begin losing their ability to handle the necessary chores of living: cooking, dishwashing, laundry, shopping, and transportation to multiple medical appointments. This makes it crucial to know before we move exactly how much help we can expect […]
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Debbie, a neighbor of mine fell the other day, in front of her own door, with her little dog on a leash. Joyce, who lives just around the corner, heard the crash and the barking and ran to investigate. Seeing the gash on Debbie’s head, Joyce pushed an emergency button and help was on […]
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Is There Skilled Nursing Care? This is a question to raise when you are choosing a place to spend your final years. In fact, the question is fundamental to the issue of a secure future. Living in a retirement community will not cure your diabetes or your osteoarthritis. It will not even guarantee that you […]
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I had just stepped off the curb in front of the pharmacy where I had picked up a prescription and purchased things I hoped would relieve the callus on my foot. To my left was a big vehicle, some kind of van, high off the ground, with a man behind the wheel and a young […]
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Recent unrest and demonstrations on university campuses have reminded us of student opposition to the Vietnam war, when young men with no desire to fight were objecting to being drafted and sent into battle. Critics of those demonstrations often accused the participants of being unwilling to serve their country. Student opposition to the war […]
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I have never seen a total eclipse of the sun and never hope to see one. Not that I never wished to, but not all my wishes have come true. This is not a complaint. A great many wonders have become true experiences, though I never had a bucket list. My life has just been […]
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Here in the place where I live, the population is old. That’s the nature of life in a retirement village. But none of us were always old. We have been places and done things. We have stories to tell. Lately I have been asked by several different groups to talk about what is happening in […]
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Forgetting? Here in the retirement home, who isn’t forgetting? A few weeks ago I forgot to go to my book club. I love book club. The prevalence of active book clubs was one of the reasons I wanted to live here. I can’t believe I forgot book club. I think I just forgot that it […]
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In another country I visited a home for the sick and elderly, just a few days before Christmas. In the lobby where I got permission to go into the ward there was Christmas music, familiar carols. Then in the large room where more than a dozen women lay in hospital beds, there was no sound […]
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