Growing Old Gracefully

This little Birdie came to Susan for Christmas, as did the one below (two views).

We live in a retirement community that is a CCRC, which stands for Continuing Care Retirement Community. That means in our complex of 3 connected buildings we have independent living apartments (that's us), an Assisted Living floor, a Memory Care floor (dementia and Alzheimer's) and a Health Care floor (nursing home/care).  

Often people say they'll "age" into an Assisted Living facility but what they don't understand is that it never includes the nursing care part unless it's part of a designated CCRC. For example, if Susan had a bad fall and broke her hip, after a few days in a hospital she would come back to our Health Care floor until she was fully recovered. I would be able to take an elevator down to her floor to see her every day and she would have therapy right there on that floor. Very convenient. If we were in an independent  Assisted Living facility she would go from the hospital to a hospital-like rehabilitation facility and I'd have to drive over to see her every day.

As we all age here we like to party hearty and I'm part of the volunteer Bartenders' Guild.  We have a Social Hour every Wednesday - free snacks, beer and wine - and about 30-40 residents take advantage of it.  A few weeks ago I had an interesting conversation with Lucy, who came up to the table where I was pouring wine:

Don:  Lucy, can I pour you a glass of wine?

Lucy:  That would be great. 

Don:  Red or white?

Lucy: I really like white but my doctor said I should drink red.

Don:  Lucy, how old are you?

Lucy: 97.

Don:...........Lucy, drink what you want!

We were in Washington DC over Thanksgiving and once again we timed it perfectly to see the ginko leaves drop.