[this week and last week, author Dan Taylor is our guest blogger; these are some of his past writings]
Friday, April 06, 2007
A Parent Care Community: Old might not be so bad if....
I was reading the other day in one of those magazines about the best places to live and retire. You can't read one of those without Austin, Texas being listed as one of the top three. There are lots of reasons for that. Austin is young. It's cool. It's got great barbecue and music. It's hot in the summer and temperate in the winter. Besides having Lance Armstrong it's got one of the greatest hotels in the country...The Four Seasons Austin...great environment, service and hospitality. Izzy Sharpe should be proud.
It occurred to me that Boomers should have a place like that where they and their parents could live and hang out together without getting in each other's hair. A place where we could care ABOUT each other but not have to worry about caring FOR each other. A place where we could do extreme sports or extreme most anything. A place where technology allowed us to stay in touch with our children and grandchildren and a world of people who are looking for connection. A place where the smell of things in the fields overode the smell of things in the bedpan. A place where the brightness of the flowers could be seen by the dimmest of eyesight.
It could be a place where our future was something different than just remembering our past. A place where we could meet people who wanted to do things and talk about things and consider anything but the fact that we were getting older. It could be a place where the majority of our friends were under 40 because we have more energy than their 20 something friends. It could be a place where our dogs and cats and fish and horses stayed with us or near us for as long as they could. And if they couldn't or when they died, they would still be near.
It could have an artist in residence. Or even a wellness physician and perhaps a small clinic or hospital. A pharmacy and a place to get ice cream. We could continue to learn there either by professors who stopped by or their lectures on the web that became the new reason for town meetings. It could have someone who helped us understand why bad things happen to good people and in Emerson's words how "we sit in the lap of an Immense Intelligence." It could be a place where we talk more about the new friends we've met than the old ones who have died. it could be a place where truly our future was bigger than our past. It could be a place that does anything but encourage us to wait for Death to come calling. It could be a place where the architectural standards encouraged the accomodations of aging and made it possible for us to stay as long as we were here.
It could be a lot like I feel when I'm in Austin........
Posted by Dan Taylor
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