Words cannot express my gratitude for the course of events taking place this week. My son and husband have been working together with me to accomplish what needs to be done to get Grace Place in tip top shape for our members. God’s presence and blessings are in abundance as we go through the doors He is opening.

My father visited here today from Louisville to see how the club is coming along. He wanted to visit Memorial Day weekend, but that is when he took a tumble and fractured a vertebrae in his neck. He is no longer having dizzy spells, but the fact that he had some means he could have more. I wish he would not drive. I thought my step mother was going to be the one driving here today. Elderly people driving when they should no longer drive is a problem. Our high quality of life in this country is so dependent on our ability to drive an automobile. I wish it was not so. I wish we had neighborhoods that were walking distance of all the services we depend upon, like the grocery, the bank, the doctor, dentist, senior centers, etc. And I wish we had better public transportation options.

Here in Lexington we are blessed to have ITN of the Bluegrass, but many people are still reluctant to use them. It means enrolling in the service and calling ahead to get a ride and then calling to make a return ride home. It is not the same as jumping in one’s own vehicle and taking off, but it is a dignified and comfortable way to get from here to there. And the drivers are very friendly. It is just like getting a ride from a relative, neighbor or friend. But it is not like jumping in one’s own car. We are spoiled in the good old USA with having the independence to go anywhere our cars will take us as soon as we reach adulthood (and even sooner for some) and all through our adulthood so that we identify being a whole person with owning a car. Losing one’s ability to drive makes us feel like less of a person, less important, less valued, somehow. It should not be so.

So, Daddy-O (my pet name for my father), please know that I love you and care for you and value you even more than ever in your advanced years….but please do not drive! I am going to have a heart to heart with Georgia and beg her to be the designated driver from now on. You are so blessed to have one another.

On Monday (June 15) of next week we are having a guest speaker here at 2100 Liberty Road at 10:30 am. Andrew Hart, CFP, will be presenting on Health and Care and how to best pay for it after retirement. At 2:00, I will be presenting to the community, or whoever chooses to attend, What We Are About, a general overview of caring for the needs of our aging population and how we fit into the big picture. On June 18, Thursday, at 10:30, Matthew Smith, JD, will be presenting on how baby boomers can prepare legally for a long and happy life. We may have a few more guest speakers who sign up at the last minute, so they are not in our newsletter or advertised in the Herald Leader, but we will put a sign out front advertising their topic on the evening before they present.

It is late…time to go home and go to bed!

May you and yours have a blessed week!