Bits, Pieces and Bright Futures

Times flies by but I often wish it would take the train instead. A slower pace, not as scary in this day and age of Homeland Security trying to keep us safe from hijackers and sabotage. I’ve only been on three trains in my life and two were just short sightseeing trips pretending to give its riders a taste of the past. One even had pretend, gun-toting bandits riding horses alongside the train in an attempt board the train and rob the men of their pocket watches and the ladies of our wedding bands. Fall often reminds me of those color tours by train they have up in Canada. The video clips and still shots are beautiful…until they show the train trestle bridge in Alberta over the Oldman River Valley. It’s over a mile long and supposedly its the highest trestle bridge in the world. I don’t know where I’m going with this post but it won’t be over the Oldman River. I’m afraid of heights. I’m afraid of a lot of things that keep me from being a world traveler. Like getting diarrhea on a plane or getting lost in the back alleys of Calcutta or having Homeland Security not let me back in the country because my last name is a common one in Central America.

One of my Gathering Girls pals just got back from a ten day trip to Africa. Talk about a world traveler! She’s been all over the place including the Amazon---the forest, not the online store. She apparently sold a large parcel of land, then a farm and has no money worries. Along with taking a couple of trips a year, she also bought herself a cherry red Trans Am convertible. Boy, does she turn heads with she parks it off all by itself and gets out. She’s a little bitty thing, my age and not at all what one would expect paired with that car. But is she any happier than I am? Who’s to say? She’s got a couple of kids who look after her interests and a new condo to go along with her car. But I was surprised to learn recently that she and another one of my Gathering Girls pals are going weekly to a widow’s support group. I’ve never been to a widow/widowers support group but my brother went to two or three meetings. He said he couldn’t take all those crying women. Fast forward a couple of years after his wife died and he managed to find himself not one but two girlfriends. Life goes on for those who are not afraid of their own shadows. (I've often wondered if one of us was adopted. He's been fearless since he was four and rode his three wheel bike off a six foot high porch.)

I went to another meeting of my future neighbors at the continuum care complex. Our independent units aka the three story apartment buildings will break ground later this fall at which time there will be a party and they’ll collect another $20,000 check from each of us. How scary is that? The media will be at the ground breaking so someone watching the local news that night might be able to pick me out of the crowd and I will probably go home tired from trying to always stand sideways to the cameras in an attempt to make myself look skinner. They had new schematics for us to view on a large screen that showed the removal of a building they’ve taken out of phrase one and in its place is a green space with walking paths and a Michigan wildflowers and butterfly garden. That will be my new view for the next 10-15 years. Now instead of a community of 72 units we’ll have 52. 

They had a question and answer session while we ate from beautiful trays of hors d’oeuvres and drank wine. One future resident had a mini melt down when she asked about the shower stalls and found out there won’t be built-in shower chairs. I asked if we’ll get to customize the placement of the grab bars…and the answer was ‘yes’. A couple of the guys had questions about financing this 3 million dollar building project and tipping points and if the non-profit parent company is picking up any short falls caused by dropping the 4^th building. Others wanted to know about fire walls and heat run walls and one bright and shining star kept raising her hand and each time she was called on she’d say, “I just want to move in tomorrow” and then there would be a few amen callers responding with, “Me too!” She is petite and sweet and she pulled if off like she was Gracie Allen standing alongside George Burns. 

The management also brought to the meeting copies of their sixteen page, by-monthly newsletter that covers the activities on their other two campuses plus articles. I’ve always found looking at a community newsletter to be a good way to judge a place. Once our campus is up and running we’ll be included in this newsletter because if you live on one campus your ID will get you into activities at all their campuses. Apparently anyone one of us will also be able to submit articles to the newsletter. Oh boy! And there was a whole page devoted to an upcoming residents art and quilt show. Double oh boy! Reading that newsletter made me want to move in tomorrow. © 

NOTE: At the top is a drawing of the complex I'll be moving to. The building to the back left is the one that's been eliminated and replaced with walking paths and wildflowers. The two buildings in the foreground face the lake. Those units are all two bedrooms and the one bedrooms with a small study, like mine, are on the back side of those two buildings. The first floor of the building on the right towards the back is community stuff like the restaurant and cafe, the mail room, concierge service, etc., and there more units on the top two floors. The private street and sidewalks along the buildings will be heated to melt snow and the parking is underneath the two buildings along the lake. A mile long, paved walking trail goes around the lake and connects the old section of this complex.