Charles McCreary on the Keys to Life

The Feeling of Being Home  

A lot changes in a person’s life as they transition into senior living; and yet, so much can stay the same. Rituals, hobbies, and traditions don’t just go away when someone moves into a senior community. In fact, we encourage our community members to engage in their interests, and we’re intentional in connecting people with others who share those same passions.

So we asked Chuck, what would you tell other people who are worried about losing themselves after they transition to senior living?

“I’m 87 years old, so it was time for me to come over here. But, it’s been a very great pleasure to be here.”

It’s nice to see the city, and it’s nice to come home

“There’s room to do a lot of things here. We go on a lot of trips. I was on a trip this morning. We went down to the Minneapolis Institute of Art and spent the morning there. We go around to different things. About once every two weeks we have a bus that takes us for rides to different places like that.

“The staff here is really knowledgeable about what’s interesting in the culture of the Twin Cities and makes it accessible for people. All we have to do is just show up in a bus from Walker. And they really do well at that. I’m just amazed at all the fun we have doing it. And we’re all riding the bus then. And we don’t act silly like little kids, but I think we feel that way in our heads anyway. We’re very happy.

“Walker Methodist makes me feel like I’m home. When I go out with my kids, while I like to go to their houses and visit them, I’m somewhat at home there too, but I’m not leaving home when they bring me back here. This is my home. They, my son or one of my daughters, they drive me, and they come in with me and walk up to my room. I think it’s because they wish to see how things are and making sure I’m keeping it all neat and clean. But truly, I feel like I’m home when I get here, and the people are just really sweet. When you need some help or something, they’re right there. And I just feel very relaxed. I don’t have anything to worry about.” 

Now that is just music to all of our ears.