Aging Well

 

Let's talk about my friend's parents... 

Last year, after significant time on the waitlist with a group of their longtime friends, they moved to Wake Robin which is a community in Vermont designed to support individual and collective vitality and health as members age.

While Wake Robin offers memory care, applicants have to pass cognitive screening exams before being welcomed into the community. Julia's parents studied and devised memory aids and ultimately both passed, but her mom gave her dad the tests again a month later and he failed them. They managed to get in just under the wire.

 

Julia and I only half joke that we need to start saving money and get on the waitlist while we still can. Her parents parlayed their privilege into a really solid plan for aging well. May we all find a way to marshal our resources and follow in their footsteps as we age, nosing out nourishing pathways that are unique to us. 

On a systemic level, we as a country suck at caring for each other. And when it comes to the last third of a person's life span, our nation makes it hard to age with dignity and connection. Maybe the Boomer generation will crash into existing structures and take them out, creating space for the establishment of better and more inclusive norms.