Who’dathunk that we would be shopping for furniture for our ninety-four-year-old Dad? But that’s just we spent part of Saturday afternoon doing.

Dad accompanied us to the reservoir walk on Friday morning.
On the bench at The Village

After attending an open house at his new CCRC (Continuing Care Retirement Community), my Dad, brother and his wife and I went to hit Living Spaces for some last minute additions to the furniture I’d already purchased online and which will be delivered today to his new apartment. It goes against everything I feel at sixty-five to be buying an entire suite of furniture but it seems to be part of this major life transition he is undergoing. The young woman who helped us at LS at The Plant in Panorama City was helpful and we acquired a coffee table, side table, two lamps and two chairs – one recliner and one small side chair that cupped me in its embrace so I fell for it while I was waiting to check out. There will be a spot for it for sure.

What I consider to be my chair… And there has to be some mystery

To catch you up – we got home safely from the airport on September 2nd, in an Escalade driven by the Ride N’ Relax driver I’d ordered from DC earlier in the day. This company was great and it alleviated having to hoof it over to the Uber lot from the Delta terminal with our dad and his luggage which is not state of the art luggage. He and his wife were worldly travelers, but quite a long time ago, so the luggage has less swish and swivel to it than one wants now. It got us here, and was adequate but just so.

Since we arrived at home, we have been enjoying our dad’s company so much. Breakfast at my glass table in the kitchen replicates as well as possible his situation from D.C. He is happily using a beautiful ceramic coffee mug that his stepson David made for him.

Load in day has come and just like any production manager, I’ve been wrangling times with the delivery folks this morning. We’ve moved from 8 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. for our starting time. It is a huge amount of stuff. I spoke with the coordinator from the CCRC today and she informed me that it is quite loud there today, as they are testing all of the alarms and the elevator would be disabled for a half hour while doing so. So we’ll be sitting out the morning at my home. Timing should work out. Now I’ve moved on from fantasizing about donuts and coffee for the crew to lunch.

The car arrived today after it’s cross-country journey. It will be great to have it here. The pod arrives 9/11 in the morning. That’s the last tangible piece of this complex puzzle of a new life.

Other highlights of the week – went for a bone density scan and discovered I’m 1″ shorter than I was in June 2018 when the last scan was done. At this rate, I’ll be 4’11 before long. How adorable, they’ll say. The technician told me that if I did yoga and pilates I could get it “back.” Since then, I’ve discovered a pilates studio very near me, so that’s probably the next thing to do once dad is settled.

Well, that’s the latest from my senior’s transition to independent living. Dad’s spirits are good – he remains one of the most adaptable humans I ‘ve known. Resilient and ready for the next chapter, which has made it so much easier for the rest of us. Looking forward to a visit from our brother Larry and his wife Barbara in the coming weeks.

Would love to hear what you are thinking!