Living with a Bunch of Old Geezers

March 1, 2020

The Saguaro starts growing arms at around 90 years of age. Proof we can still grow when we are old.

Majestic Saguaro with this tall guy.

Soon after we arrived here I mentioned to Steve that there are a lot of “old” people here and some of them are “rickety” - meaning they do not move very well or very fast. Sometimes we get a shock looking in the mirror and realizing we are “old people” too. 

There is some discussion among retired folk about the advantages and disadvantages of living in a retirement community and having limited time and exposure to people of other ages. The pros include living with people who understand much of the same history and have the same medical issues - ha! The cons are that it can be depressing to continually see people getting more feeble and losing their mental acuity.

There are close to 2000 people over the age of 55 here in the Rincon Country West RV park. I see many of them walk by our RV daily. In front of the passenger seat in the RV is a perfect place to put my sewing machine which means when I sew I can watch the world go by. This has been educational.

We are on an outer street and anyone who wants to walk completely around this RV park (one time around is 1.4 miles) goes by our RV. There are old people walking their dogs, old people riding their bikes, old people riding their tricycles, and old people on reclining bikes. And a few of them walk very slowly, are very bent over, limp, or are using a walker. Many are walking their dogs and some push their dogs in strollers. And they are all OLD. Some of them look up and see me sewing and wave and smile. There's my friend, JoAnn, from Cactus Quilters, who stops to talk. JoAnn walks with a walker and is grateful for that because before her back surgery a year ago she could not walk at all.

We agreed we should try to delay the “rickety” part as long as possible.

So Steve goes to Planet Fitness regularly. Soon after we arrived in December I started attending a yoga class. I felt it did not challenge me and thought I could do better on my own. I purchased a set of CD’s called Yoga Burn. Oh. My. Stars.

There are 3 stages to the Yoga Burn routine and you are supposed to take 4 weeks to master each stage. It took me 6 weeks to master the 1^st stage and the 2^nd will take me at least that long as at first I am unable to even finish the 45 minute workout.  When I first began I did a lot of yelling at the yoga teacher on the video. A lot of “You’ve got to be kidding me!” and “My leg doesn’t work that way!” and “Are you out of your mind!” and “I can’t do that!” plus a lot of moaning and groaning. Steve says he found it quite entertaining- which is why I prefer doing it when he is out of the RV.

But the good thing about this Yoga Burn stuff is that in the 7 weeks I have been doing it, I have gradually felt stronger and have more energy.  So every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I make myself (still with a lot of complaining) do the 45 minute routine. I also do an hour of walking 3 days a week. Because I am trying to avoid “rickety” as long as possible.

A month ago we were driving to Buckeye, near Phoenix, to see my sister-in-law and help a nephew and his wife and baby move into a new house. On the way, Steve suddenly felt faint and could feel his heart was out of rhythm and so he pulled over to let me drive. He put the seat back and got his feet up and I was trying to decide if we should call an ambulance or keep driving to a hospital. He gradually felt better but just a bit off the rest of the day. He continued to have an irregular heart beat now and then ever since.

So Steve saw a cardiologist and wore a monitor that recorded his heart rate on a small unit the size of a keyfob. Then he got a call to set up an appointment with an electrocardiologist- someone who specializes in hearts that “mis-fire”. He has both PVC’s and PAC’s. Magnesium supplements have helped me reduce my dosage of Metoprolol and were recommended for Steve also. Interesting.

Every Thursday I spend most of 9a-3p sewing with the Cactus Quilters. There are all kinds of sewing crafts that one can get involved with - including things I had never heard of like Brazilian quilting and Hardanger embroidery. The Cactus Quilters make small quilts to give to the Fisher House (like Ronald McDonald houses but for families of Veterans at the VA hospital) and for a domestic abuse shelter, and for anyone here in the park that is ill or has an injury. The tops are made by volunteers, sandwiched with a batting and backing and then knotted. I used scraps that are free in the Sewing Room to make one top.

Comfort quilts ready to give away.

I usually do the border stitching before the quilt gets knotted.

    

I complete the edges of about 7-9 comfort quilts per day.

On the back of every quilt...

The sewing room on Thursdays

There are quilters who make quilts for the veterans in an Alzheimer’s unit and quilters who make quilts for blind babies that use multiple textures. Even though pre-midwifery career I sewed multiple quilt tops, I am learning about new tools and machines I never knew I needed. We even had a Quilt Show here at the park yesterday with over 150 quilts displayed and many other sewing arts.

This is the quilt top I made from scraps left in the sewing room.

I took a class to learn how to make this jelly roll rug.

Steve goes to the Pottery workshop almost daily. At first he made things by the slab and tube methods. There are wheels here on campus but no one to teach how to “throw” pots so Steve found a class given by the local Pima County. He has gradually gotten really good and has some lovely pieces that we are already using.

Steve made himself a new coffee mug.

The wheel where Steve creates his pottery.

Some of Steve's recent creations

Musical events are very frequent here at the park and the high quality of groups they have brought in have impressed us. We sang along with an Eagles tribute band and a Neil Diamond tribute group. At the Fox Theater in the city we enjoyed Pavlo, a classical guitarist, and the amazing Fab Four, a group that imitates the Beatles better than any other group we have seen.

The University of Arizona is nearby so we were able to enjoy a beautiful evening with their group of 6 harps and 7 flutes. We did not go to all that was offered but went to 5 events in January and 4 in February.

So where are we on the question of where to retire?  We are having fun, enjoying the many activities offered here, and like being around “old” people who still want to learn and improve themselves. When singing along with a whole crowd who knows all the words to “Sweet Caroline, good times never seemed so good” it’s easy to see us coming back here next winter. But I miss my children and grandchildren badly enough that it won’t be a permanent move. Virginia still calls.

But first, Alaska, here we come!