There are a few options as to where we live as we age. We can stay at home for as long as we are independent. We can go into Assisted Living (which usually includes ending up in a nursing facility); we can go retirement communities; we can live with relatives; or we can live in our cars.
Right now, one of my cousins is living with her 90 year old mother and it actually seems to be working quite well. I sound surprised because I simply cannot imagine having done that with my mother. Her needs were endless, extending to the design of her kleenex boxes and even when I was with her for an hour or two I often found myself exhausted from attending to what I deemed trivial matters.
A few weeks before my Mom died, I was telling a younger friend about my Mom’s health situation and my role in managing it. He blithely said, “Oh, my parents aren’t going to do that to us.” Inwardly laughing I said, “Really? How is that going to work?” He informed me that they had it all planned out and they were going to go into assisted living, etc. It seems highly unlikely to me that neither he nor his siblings will be involved in this process.
So, before I go on for too long, I am posting this article I read from the New York Times regarding “luxury senior housing.” Apparently “the vibe at these places is less dreary nursing home and more five-star wellness resort.” Sounds good, and extremely expensive to me.
But I think the most important thing to me will be to be in a community with people I like, and am maybe even related to.
“These upscale retirement homes cater to the affluent end of the “the silver tsunami” — the coming wave of aging baby boomers who are still socially and culturally active, and who have become accustomed to a certain quality of life.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/27/style/growing-old-in-high-style.html?smid=em-share
I know that cousin…although you shaved a year off of my mom’s age!