So the other day I griped about aging-in-place, that is, staying in the Sacred Family Home, even if it kills you. And it occurs to me that, in trying to do some background reading, I didn’t see very much about what causes some people to take this approach, staying in the home even at significant cost, when that home is a two-story colonial in the suburbs, without walkable or mass transit access to shopping or community/social groups, and with maintenance/upkeep burdens; or, conversely, what causes others to happily move to a elevator-building condo or an “independent living” senior community.
So I’d like to ask my retired readers to comment and, first, identify yourselves as determined agers-in-place or happy movers (whether you have already moved to a more senior-friendly home, or are perfectly happy to do so in the future), and then tell me:
How long have you lived in your current home (or, if you’ve moved, the prior home)? Did you move frequently as you were raising your family, or were you rooted in a single community?
How active are you in your church or in community groups?
How large is your social network — friends you socialize with?
Do your children live in the same town/near enough to visit for the day, or are they far enough away that visits are overnight or longer?
How successfully do you feel your children have “launched” into adulthood?
What is your general community like? Rural/suburban/city? Presuming that you live in a traditional, two-story suburban home (or did so), do you/did you know people (not necessarily older retirees, but in general) who live/lived in condos/apartments?
I’m not really sure what I’m looking for; it’s just a thought that perhaps if enough of you tell me enough about yourselves, I’ll have an “a-ha moment” that will put some of the pieces in place. And in the meantime, I’ll also try to see what else I can find in the publicly-available research.
Image: http://www.navair.navy.mil/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.NAVAIRNewsStory&id=4801
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