Does anyone have time for a cup of coffee?

[luise.volta]

Truth, Doe? This cyber-family of mine makes all the difference in the world! I'm so grateful for all of you! Sending love...

[Doe]

yay!

[Pooh]

I'm sooo glad you had a great time!  You very much deserved the break Luise.  You should do it much more often!

[luise.volta]

Thanks! We have another "retreat" planned for Mid-March. I'm settling in but it was really nice to get beyond "who died today" for a week. I have good friends at Warm Beach and was just elected to the Resident Council again…and you guys keep me on my toes! 

[Kate123]

I guess there are pros and cons to living in a retirement home. On one hand you have company, but then like you said you have to deal with death everyday and that could be overwhelming for some. I would love to stay in my own home, but I think I will not be able to continue the expenses of taxes and repairs. I am 56 and not ready for a retirement home yet but do think about it (with some fear).

Something that I thought was funny was that last year when I thought of selling my home my DS wanted me to buy a home near a hospital since I am so old now. He said it would be good in case I break a hip or something. I just don't feel that old to be thinking of that so to me it was funny. I guess you always seem old to your kids, and you always feel younger then you are.

[lancaster lady]

I can assure you 56 is not old ! A nice age to start enjoying life . 

[luise.volta]

K - You are the age of my youngest child!  Thirty years from now you may want to enter a retirement community instead of living in solitude. It's safer and more supportive in many ways. It is also pretty concentrated on end of life issues for that reason. There are interim steps…condos and manufactured home communities that are for those 55 and up (you just barely made it) that have club houses and social events. It might be fun to research them and see how much your costs would decrease and how much more fun you might have. 

[Pen]

DH will not even think about this. I'm concerned about getting to the point in the next few years (they will fly by, I know) where we can't maintain our home or vehicles by ourselves anymore. I'm trying to get in shape so I can be spry and nimble, but let's face it - from here on out I'll be lucky to maintain the health & fitness level I've got now and it's highly unlikely I'll suddenly turn back the clock by 3 decades, lol. I wish DH could see that I'm not being negative, just realistic. I think he has a romantic notion of floating out to sea on an ice floe (we don't live anywhere near an ice floe.) I think I'd rather be in a cozy room w/my books, my art supplies, a cup of tea and HBO.

[Kate123]

My Mom was in a retirement appartment house for low income and it was beautiful. Very nicely decorated hallways, georgeous TV room with fireplace, leather furnitures, wall to wall french doors. They even have  guest apts for out of town visitors of residents. The apartments were very nice too, and all for 1/3-1/2 of your income. I would not mind at all being there and hope it will be around when/if I need it in the future. For now I keep my eyes open, and I am looking for work. I think I need to work to feel a purpose (money too of course) and to keep from thinking about things that will drive me crazy- like ACs. HA!

[luise.volta]

Sounds lovely! My HUD unit is only 1/3 of my income and includes the electricity! :-) We are a non-profit faciility so we can volunteer to do all kinds of things here that makes us feel useful. For-profit places can't have in house volunteering. It's against the law because the owners could exploit people. Last year we put in over 38,000 hours of volunteering on campus and replaced 18 full-time employees! Talk about feeling useful! :-)

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