Y’all know I make frequent references to Instapundit aka Glenn Reynolds who blogs, writes NY Post columns, and now has a Substack presence for long form musings. Today he writes about age segregation and its downsides.
Dear reader, as you are aware, I normally agree with Reynolds about most things. Today, I write to take issue with some of his criticisms embodied in this recent column.
The DrsC recently moved their winter residence into one of those 55 and older retirement communities, which Reynolds thinks are less-than-good. I’ve got to say, based on nearly 2 years residence, that there are some real upsides too.
Residents here range from a few as young as 50 (55 for most) maybe up to 90s, whatever age you go to a nursing home. So we have what I call the “young old” who are physically vigorous, playing golf, tennis and pickle ball, trekking, gardening, and exploring the desert in ATVs. And the “truly old” who leave those pursuits to others.
What honestly surprised us was how much the neighbors have in common. That commonality is mostly social class and relatively successful lives. Plus the shared medical downsides of aging. The prevalence of replaced hips and knees is amazing.
We’re not all one race, one political party, or even all straights, and there are a few singletons. We came from lots of different places and so far have gotten along darn well. We have local friends who are from CA of course, but also from CO, ID, OR, WA. That’s in addition to the literally dozens of couples who summer in western WY and winter here, not all in our development.
Some have kids and grandkids, many have dogs which they dutifully walk and pick up after, more than a few drive “midlife crisis” cars (Corvettes, Porsches, etc.), many play golf. More than half live here year round - not what I would have guessed - as summer temps sometimes go to 116℉. I can honestly say we’ve met very few who struck us as “stay away from that one.”
The HOA makes sure people don’t turn their house into a hot dog stand or paint it purple, That is part of the regimentation I noted relatively high density living requires, and its impersonality keeps us from getting mad at neighbor’s foibles, as such are minimized. My conclusion: it works.
On the other hand, friends of ours bought a place in The Villages in FL, supposedly the biggest group of 55+ communities in the country. They hated it, sold out, and moved somewhere less “programmed.”
De gustibus non disputandum.
