The song Turn, Turn, Turn, written by Pete Seeger and sung by The Byrds became a hit in 1965. However an earlier version was recorded in 1963 by Judy Colin’s, and it is the Judy Colin’s version that I often hear in my head at times like this when I’m wondering if my timing is right.
As I mentioned recently Paul and I will be on the move again soon, in fact, in eight more days we will no longer own our little cottage by the sea. Instead we will have moved approximately 1km up the road, and about 100 metres further away from the sea, into our new home in a retirement village. Here’s a sneak preview of the new building.
We have a friend that often says that people leave it to late to downsize and move into a home that will see them into their twilight years. When we bought our little coastal cottage we thought we had bought ourselves a house that would see us well into our old age. As it turns out though the cottage takes up more of our time than we had anticipated, and it’s become clear to us that when one of us leaves the other behind (and let’s face it, that will almost certainly happen one day), this little cottage is going to be too much work for one of us to maintain alone. The market is currently good, and we stumbled upon a house in a retirement village that is plenty big enough for two people and a dog, but not to big for one person on their own. The village has a lot of things going on to interest the two of us at our current stage in life, namely bowls, heated swimming pool and a well equipped gym. But it’s what it has on offer for us in years to come that causes me to think that one day we’ll be thankful we took the plunge at a time in our lives when we were still young enough to both cope with the move, and to adapt to retirement village life.
A little bit more about my current theme song, Turn, Turn, Turn (to everything there is a season). Although Pete Seeger is credited with the lyrics, most of the words actually come form the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes (3, 1 – 8). Very little change was made to to the biblical scriptures apart from adding Turn, Turn, Turn, and repeating the words of the chorus.
Here are the lyrics:
Chorus
To everything, (turn, turn, turn),
there is a season, (turn, turn, turn),
and a time to every purpose, under heaven.
A time to be born, a time to die.
A time to plant, a time to reap.
A time to kill, a time to heal.
A time to laugh, a time to weep.
Chorus
A time to build up, a time to break down.
A time to dance, a time to mourn.
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together.
Chorus
A time to love, a time to hate.
A time for war, a time for peace.
A time you may embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.
Chorus
A time to gain, a time to lose.
A time to rend, a time to sew,
A time for love, a time for hate.
A time for peace, – I swear it’s not to late!
Is our time right, is this the right season in our life to move? We’re both only 66, are we moving to early? Who knows, no-one knows what’s around the corner for any of us. We know we haven’t left this move to late, but are we moving to early? Time will tell. But for now i’d better go and pack another box…..
Life of Riley - on whatever 
A timely move Chris. Have fun.
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Always having fun. Different to most people, I actually enjoy moving too. I find exciting, and I love the clean out that goes with it. And now I’d better go and pack another box.
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I would say you’ve done the right thing at the right time. My parents are in their 80s and have recently moved from their home of 50 years into a “lifestyle resort”. Their brand new home is gorgeous and there are so many amazing facilities. But, they and most of the other elderly residents don’t take advantage of it all because they’ve left it too late. Go for it and enjoy your lovely new home. Congratulations.
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I hear that sort of thing often, and see it too. Thank you for your words of encouragement. I don’t think we’re going to regret it.
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We’re not thinking of moving just yet but we reckon if we lived there we’d be using all the facilities every day. There is so much on offer. You’ll have a great time.
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We’ll definitely be using a lot of the facilities. I think we’ll enjoy it.
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Oh wow, the new space looks amazing.
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Its not huge but the rooms are slightly bigger, and layout better than in our existing cottage. There are a lot of very old people living there, but also quite a few very active people around our age. I hope it works out.
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This is exciting stuff, Chris and I feel sure that however you feel about the move, you will make it work for you. Some folks don’t like retirement living and others thrive on it. It depends on how adaptable you are, I suppose and you have always struck me as someone who looks for the silver lining. This is the inbetween house for a grey nomad who likes a home base. We didn’t like the smaller size townhouse as you might remember from my downsizing post, but the compact size of this kind of residence means it is a breeze to clean and that is important as you get older and cleaning gets more difficult. Simplify where you can! If you don’t want to spend days maintaining a garden, don’t. Some folks don’t like the close proximity of neighbours, but if you are frequently on trip away, who cares. You might be glad of close neighbours if one of you are left on their own through health reasons. My parents left it too late and they are now paying the price. They get lots of home help but I am too far away from them to help with the extra little daily tasks. Do you follow Gerard from Oosterman Treats blog – he talked a lot about retirement village living. There were problems but I believe he has moved into a different place where he is very happy. Time will tell.
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Our existing cottage is in an age restricted area, but it’s quite unique in that all the houses are green titled, with normal sized blocks of land, and no strata fees or restrictions other than the age restrictions. We see so many people in the houses nearby who aren’t coping with their normal sized gardens, and house maintenance. Our next door neighbour’s house was to much for her, so with reluctance, she left it empty and went to live with her daughter in Perth. I think she would have still been living independently had she moved when she was younger into a proper lifestyle village, with a courtyard garden, and facilities that encouraged company. She was very lonely.
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There is an epidemic of loneliness in the elderly, Chris. I save some scrapbooking supplies to fill my time when I cannot get about and do all the things I am used to.
Sounds like it is best to move for all sorts of reasons: maintenance, company, new friends, activities etc.
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Families are so scattered, and people are so busy. There’s literally no time to visit elderly relatives in our busy Westernised lives. The family unit is still a high priority in many cultures though, which sadly, is seemingly the cause of much concern at the moment in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, I gather. I gather you will be in lock down – how is that going for you?
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No lockdown up here, Chris, unless you mean the snap 3.5 day lockdown to give the contact tracers time to catch up. A lesson that Sydney has yet to learn. They seem to be run by some incompetent or perhaps belligerent fools. I don’t know why they are scared to completely lockdown short and sharp! Saves drawn out pain and the cases keep multiplying. Yet sportsmen, especially Rugby players seem immune to Covid and they are all flocking up here for the winter. And they avoid quarantining…..hmmmm.
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Yes, they seem frightened to lock down for sure. I don’t get it! Dress shops, jewellery shops etc all allowed to open, and people are being politely requested to refrain from going to those shops. Soooo, why are they allowed to open. I’d better not get started – you wanna hear me everytime their Premier gives her press conference. She frustrates the hell out of me.
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The whole crew give off an aura of incompetency, or of being cometely overwhelmed, I have to say. The medical officer with broken glasses wiping her eye with her mask didn’t instil much confidence.
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Good luck for your move!
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Thank you.
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