“A Change Is Gonna Come.” Aah! Nothing like listening to a little Otis Redding! Some of us of “boomers”, you know the group, where 60 is the new 40, are on a mission; that’s to create the next chapter of our lives.
We’ve watched our parents’ age and here’s a little secret, while they were so have we! But, then 60 being the new 40, well…let’s try not to think about it!
I’m guessing many of us are familiar with “Independent Living” or “Assisted Living?” But can someone please tell me how the heck that’s going to work out? Ya…didn’t think so!
These days, for the most part, aging parents aren’t living with their kids and their families, probably being a big pain in the butt but part of the family scene! Then there’s some of us who haven’t made that lifestyle choice or have no kids to move in with.
What’s to be done??? What’s next???
When I think about it, I can’t for the life of me, see not being able to cook. I endured 6 pain-filled weeks a while back that kept me from “my domain”…I was one miserable cook, to say the least!
Cooking has been, for me and many others, our way of life. We get a huge amount of joy from cooking and feeding family and friends.
The question is, how’s it going to be possible to go from a full kitchen to a microwave and a kettle? And what about those marches to the dining room at some ungodly hour like 4:30 or 6:00 for dinner? They’ve got to be kidding! No one we know eats that early and certainly not at a prescribed time! Not only that…we enjoy cooking and eating our own food and get satisfaction from testing recipes and trying out new ideas.
I wonder if I’ll wake up in the middle of the night sweating, my hand clutched as if holding a whisk? Is that just me…don’t think so!
UNLESS…we can come up with a cunning plan…we have to come up with a cunning plan!
Hmmm…speaking of cunning plans: a few friends of ours are talking about forming a commune of some sort and Italy would be first choice! My husband and I think this is a brilliant idea. Those who want to, can cook, or lend a hand in the kitchen or do other stuff. There will be a garden with fig trees because they’re so good to eat and they epitomize the Mediterranean’s climate, food and way of life. An amazing garden with loads of veggies and flowers for cutting, or just admiring will be planted. We’ll hire people to do the heavy lifting of course, including housework…sounds pretty great to me! Instead of those organized bus trips to a mall or wherever, there would be trips to check out a variety of local festivals happening throughout the year. We could set up chairs outside our villa on warm nights and watch movies on a huge screen. Heck, some of us could take up drawing or painting. And because there has to be a pool, there will be ongoing pool therapy and exercise programmes to keep us in fighting form…sounds like a pretty fantastic community to me! Who knows, we might even be vetted by a film director who wants to make a documentary about our little community!
Would someone be kind enough to pass the Prosecco please? Oh and I’ll have some of those figs too!
when you get your commune going in Italy let me know as i would like to book a spot. enjoyed our visit there in 2011. we spent five weeks there it was so hot you couldn’t do much in the day time but late afternoon and early mornings were great for travelling around.
Hi Leona!
Well the thing is to be there in the spring and fall…which is what we do! Rome is wonderful in April/May and September/October. The apartment we rent is walking distance to the Vatican (same side of the river) and it seems to stay quite cool. I couldn’t bear to be there in the summer! And everything is closed in the afternoons anyway so mornings and later afternoons are great for going about (except restaurants that mostly are always open) or at least until 2:30…plan on returning after my knee replacement and rehab is over…maybe in the early fall! We now have friends in Rome, Umbria and Tuscany and it’s so nice to visit with them!
I love your Italy plan. Go for it!
Oh do we want to Frank…just need to get through the next few months (surgery on Jan. 19th) and then some other things. I wish I could just be like Samantha and twitch my nose and make it happen right now….no fuss, no muss!