Richard L. Morgan (1)

"Getting older is not for sissies," Bette Davis memorably quoted on Johnny Carson. She was correct, but who helps us deal with the vicissitudes of old age? It turns out that COMMUNITY can play a leading role in a happier tomorrow, if we allow it to become our neighbor.

Many today claim they want to "age in place," assuming, I think, that the "place" will remain the same, that their neighbors won't move to Florida or in with their children, or heavens! predecease them.

Morgan and his wife leave their community in North Carolina, to move closer to their daughter in a retirement community in Pennsylvania that will care for them through to the end. It was a tough transition. They knew no one except their daughter and her family. They were not needed by these strangers who walked in the same hallways. But slowly Morgan (he writes only of his own transition, not his wife's) finds his way. First within the independent living section, then in the assisted living, finally making his way to the dementia care unit. He and his wife, through patient hunting, found a church home for themselves. And, at the end of his first year, Morgan had branched out into the wider community.

This book gives good guidance. Not that all of us should follow exactly in Morgan's footsteps, but that we each need to "get over it." We need to "get out of ourselves" (our aches and pains, our diminishments, our woes) and find ways to increase the happiness quotient in the community we find ourselves in. Listen and look for where our gifts may be valued. We each have them. Look for what brings us joy. This is probably God's call to us!… (meer)