The Right Time to Move to a Retirement Community?

Hello ... and let me introduce myself. I'm Reed Browning, a resident at Kendal at Granville, a CCRC in Ohio, and this is the inaugural entry on the new Kendal at Granville Resident Blog.

As you'll see in the coming weeks, several other residents will be joining me in sharing with you some accounts and musings about our life at Kendal. Basically we're just having fun in this project, and we plan to tell you what's going on here. But we also hope to trigger your curiosity about Kendal, and so we hope you'll let us know if there are particular subjects you'd like to hear about.

I don't know what topics my colleagues will be bringing up, but as for me, since I'm just getting started on this blogging thing, I think I want to begin with an important and serious subject that friends have heard me talk about - the benefits of not delaying a decision about moving to move to a CCRC.

Here's the background. It's known that I love living at Kendal, and so I sometimes get into conversations with people who are wondering how long they should wait before moving to a CCRC. I usually wind up giving the same general advice: make the move while you are still in good health. Why? Because then, even as you enjoy the two great advantages of living in a CCRC - the simplifying of your life and the comfort of knowing that you will be cared for if illness or disability should come - you can plunge into activities you enjoy.

If asked to give examples of what I mean, I tend to draw on my own experiences here and on what I've seen my friends doing. Do you have hobbies you want to spend more time with? Well, our rural setting encourages gardeners, our spacious campus invites casual bicycling, and our on-campus pond and Indian mound draw hikers. In the cooler evenings of the spring and fall, residents get together for conversation in the courtyard, over lawn games, or during strolls. Indoor hobbies flourish too, with (for examples) swimmers having their pool, fitness fans the exercise room, woodworkers their shop, artists their studio, book clubbers their regular discussion meeting. And everyone, of course, has the library.

I may also note that our residents are often drawn to attractions near our campus. For example, Denison University, sitting just north of Granville, welcomes residents in its classes (I've enrolled in four), while its program of cultural events - lectures, exhibitions, concerts - draws many from our community, with a Kendal bus providing transportation. As for the town of Granville itself, it is nothing less than a picturesque jewel. The village's main street features restaurants, ice cream parlors, clothing stores, lovely churches, and a variety of typical small-town businesses. And everywhere you turn - the public library, the grocery store, the post office, the hardware outlet - the service is friendly and efficient. Granville is filled with nice people.

Finally, if there is an inquiry about the possibility of an occasional interlude of big-city life, I reply that Kendal is only about a 25-30 minute drive from Columbus. As Ohio's capital and largest city, Columbus offers restaurants, theaters, concerts, two major league professional teams, a world-famous zoo, a nationally-honored public library, and the many attractions of The Ohio State University.

So, to get back to my opening point. I'm a great fan of the concept of the CCRC. To anyone who is seriously thinking about whether it's time to move to a CCRC, my advice is generally to act while you're able to seize the possibilities offered by life in a retirement community. Or to put it succinctly: earlier is better than later. Even briefer: carpe diem.

Please let me hear from you if you have questions or comments.

Reed