For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for May 03, 2021

Some of those places are not fit for old people.

We have one dedicated city for senior citizens only named Sun City. If the children or grandchildren want to visit, the residents have to get permission. I read a story about grandparents “harboring” a grandson whose parents died and he did not have anybody except these grandparents. Someone told on them because s/he did not like seeing the teenager around the neighborhood. He was 17. The grandparents told the authorities he was 6 months shy of turning 18 and will move in with a sibling out of state. He wanted to finish high school near home. But, no, the grandson must go, so the grandparents moved into an apartment near the high school and rented out their Sun City home. The grandson graduated and was about to fly out to live with a brother as he expected his grandparents to return to Sun City. Well, the grandparents decided to go to the press to denounce the policies in Sun City and sold their home. They bought a home in a regular neighborhood. The grandfather said the senior citizen cities/communities are for cranky people who want absolute quiet. Upon moving back in a regular neighborhood, he said he felt free and back to normal.

In real life, Lynn Johnston’s parents moved to a lakeside cottage in Hope, BC, that became their retirement home. Lynn Johnston, on the other hand, now lives in a condo in North Vancouver, just like the comic strip version of her parents.

I’ve always abided by the sentiment “An old geezer is 10 years older than me, regardless of my age at the time.”

My Mom just turned 89 and lives in an independent living home. She also talks about how many “old people” are there.

Look into a mirror, dear grandpa. Ever go by a large window while outside and see that old person walking by and it sinks in that it is you?

My times coming someday. I’m not sure at what “age” the pioneer home is considered mandatory, but I going to hold to the thought that when I can’t get off the toilet by myself, that’s the right age. I’m sure there are other rules, but that is mine.

At one time, my mother, in her late eighties, decided she wouldn’t be attending the family reunion because….wait for it….“there are too many old people there.” Now, I am the old person there, as are my cousins. And, we can’t wait to get back together.

Lynn’s Comments:

I’ve spent a great deal of time now visiting my aunt in a senior’s residence, and it’s clear to me that when you are ready to have a small, secure home with medical help and regular prepared meals, you are definitely ready! The one thing my aunt is saddened by is the strangeness of being surrounded by very old people all the time! The only young people are staff members and visitors. When I take her into town for a change of scene, she will say, “This is normal! Everyone is here…young, old, and in between!”

I have been snowbirding now for five years and I am 58.

I will say, it is quite fun being the “young hottie” in the neighborhood after so many decades! ;-D

We have friends who moved 180 miles to a 55+ gated community. They have lost interest in all their old hobbies and spend their time complaining about association rules and all the ambulances at night.

Pilot I used to fly with inherited his parents home in a “retirement” community. When he retired from the AF he and his wife moved in. At the time they were 45. Board said he couldn’t stay as he was too young. He pulled up the CC and Rs and showed them he could live there as there was not an age restriction listed. Just the fact that one of the residents had to be officially retired. Seeing as he was retired military, he fit the bill. And on top of it, as he inherited the house, he was covered under the CC and Rs from when his parents bought the house.

After my Dad died a couple of weeks shy of his 81st birthday ( and was still working part-time ), my mother was adamant about keeping her house in Connecticut – which she did until the day she died at age 89.

She would visit her friends in Florida for about a month each winter( and me, when I moved there from Arizona ) but would never entertain the idea of moving there permanently. She said she didn’t want to be around “all those old people”! She said that all they did all day was talk about their aches and pains, their doctors and operations, and complain (or brag ) about their kids, and how the world was going to hell in a handbasket!

How many of the people here staunchly protecting strict rules, also believe gun control, or medicare is "communism ? Betting if they have grandkids, they don’t want to visit them either.

They should have rented to a cartel smuggling old people

I had an uncle and an aunt who lived in a condo for a few years until uncle died. Aunt now lives with daughter, grandson, and two great-granddaughters in daughter’s house.

Don’t know about Sun City but I live in a senior community of 260 plus manufactured homes. In this town I would pay at least four times as much for a four bedroom 2 bath home with the space I have. The Community is well treed, flowers everywhere, beautiful walking paths, and few worries about theft or crime. You have to be 55 or over and there are a lot of rules, but a fair amount of flexibility. Grandchildren are welcome visitors here. There is a special swimming pool for them.

My mother had a bad knee, she was 91 and bought into an assisted living, it took her awhile top get accepted, she would go to lunch and dinner and say, “The trouble with this place is’ there are too many old people here.”

I knew an 85-year-old who was living in one of those facilities, around the time Wii came out. The facility got one and my dear friend told me about how she had taken it upon herself to teach the “old” people how to use it, LOL! She did not see herself as 85, old was for other people.