As I shoveled our driveway for the fourth time this winter, the concept of aging in place kept entering my mind. As I age and think about how I want to live in the next years, the maintenance of a home and doing the usual chores on some days can go beyond my abilities. I am grateful that this year I could shovel the long driveway…thanks to six months of regular yoga!
But what does this really mean for the future? Who do we rely upon and how do we want to live? Thankfully, we have close relationships with our friendship circle in the area and with our neighbors who are our support line. But like many today, our family is not close by and we need to plan for the realistic future and not an idealized view of how we would want it to be.
So what is it about aging in place that is important for us to consider and plan for in advance of a crisis? I have given this idea a lot of thought in my professional life as well as personally. It is something I talk about with close friends very often and with colleagues. As we strategically plan for housing and services at Journey’s Way, we are interested in what this aging in place concept really means on a personal level.
Some of the issues that I think about for myself are: How wedded am to my home that I raised my children in? How wedded am I to my garden, my outside sitting area with birds and trees? Am I willing to give this up for a one story easy to manage home? Am I willing to sacrifice interior space for some amenities that help to foster more social connections? How much privacy and autonomy do I need? Do I need to arrange for chore services and cost that into my budget so that my home is easier to manage? And finally what is affordable during retirement years and for how long?
I would be happy to hear your thinking on the subject of what aging in place means to you…
With warm regards,
Cyndee Wishkovsky