Old People Vs Retirement Living
I spent last week visiting an elderly relative who lives in a retirement home, and I really must say, it has to be one of the deep and abiding ironies of life that retirement homes are for the elderly.
I mean, really. I could have happily and with great relief settled in for a nice long stay, but it was pretty obvious to me that none of the actual residents were particularly thrilled to be living there. And it was quite a nice place on the retirement home expense-o-meter, too.
Still, no matter what you're paying (and this private institution takes all of a good pension plus most of an accompanying CPP - every month) personal freedom gets parked with the walkers at the door. No matter how friendly the staff may be, they still work for the corporation and the corporation has its eye on just one thing - the bottom line. And the bottom line often has to do with insurance costs.
Risk takers, Dear Reader, are not welcome in retirement homes.
But I'm not a risk taker. I'm also not old, not even a bit. In fact, I'm so childlike, it'll be hard to tell when that reverse pattern kicks in and I start acting like an old person - getting up ridiculously, eating a big breakfast, playing games all morning, going outside for exercise in the afternoon, stealing candy from the big bowl in the lobby.
Still, the thing I liked about living in the retirement home was the pace. Nice and slow. It's a wonder, really, they aren't marketed to middle-aged people who need a week or two off: "Come and stay at Shady Pines for a relaxing holiday, three square meals a day, scheduled activities - including movie nights in the lobby, sing-a-longs around the piano, and once a week bus trips to the nearest gambling casino."
And, well, since you know it's not like... your last stop... you'll actually enjoy being there.
