Dear Friends,
I have been busy this month and not keeping up with my writing. That’s a good thing. People are tired of waiting for the world to end, or for someone to tell them it’s okay to breathe now. We’re all trying to get used to a new “normal” and move on with our lives.
Yet, we continue to second-guess ourselves. My husband and I are no different. As I mentioned before we have lived in the same home for 37 years. We are aging in place. The trouble is that we are tired of our house. There are things we want in our home that we just can’t have – like ceilings that we can’t touch so my husband doesn’t feel like a hobbit!
We also know we want a home where we can age in place. We have made many improvements already, yet it would take major renovations to make our home truly accessible and comfortable to age in place. Other issues with the house are that its high maintenance; it has a long stone drive and a flat roof. This house is for the young and fit to take over.
We talk about aging-in-place and how we want to live in our home and asked ourselves “is it the right home to age in place in?” We have decided it’s not really where we want to spend our retirement years. Our house is full of wonderful memories and we put a lot of sweat, and yes, tears into it. In the long run though, it takes a lot of work to maintain its cottage charm.
So, after almost two years, many cups of coffee, countless brainstorming sessions on the white board, and hours of my designing on cad, we have finally decided we need to create the home of our dreams. As a designer specializing in creating accessible homes for people with disabilities and those who want to remodel their homes to age in place, I have given this much thought and research.
It’s probably a question many of you have anguished over -do you stay in the home you’ve had for many years or move on to something new? We know for a fact that an active adult community is the last place we would want to live. All those houses are the same – three step entryways, throne hot whirlpool tubs and toilets in a closet. There is nothing about those homes that support aging in place.
We do know that we want the next phase of our life to be different and exciting. We have lived in this home for 37 years, my husband even longer; it’s his Perkiomenville PA family homestead. We moved every rock in the flowerbed, put on three additions and built a barn. It’s just not want we want for the future. It will be extremely difficult to leave, but we know it’s the right move for us.
This plan will take a few years to happen so stay tuned. In the meantime we’re keeping our home well maintained and safe. As my husband and I go through the process of creating a place to age comfortably, safely and support an active lifestyle, I hope you will share your ideas, plans, dreams and hopes for the future and how you want to age in place.
Here’s to the future & renewal,
Pat
Tags: age-in-place, assisted living community, home, lifestyles design, remodeling, renovation
