Travel Tuesday

Guess where I was last week? Here's a hint.

Yep, St. Louis! Look at that traffic! People who live in big cities are used to it. I have to say, Nashville isn't much better. The difference is--in St. Louis, you jump on the highway to go just about everywhere. In Nashville, we do not. So I don't have to get in highway traffic very often.

Anyway, I was in St. Louis to help Aunt Marie and Uncle Tony. They are getting ready to move to a senior community. Aunt Marie could probably use some assisted living (and at times, full nursing care), but Uncle Tony is not ready for that. This will be the best thing for them even if it means more work for him. I was there to "take care of" Aunt Marie while Uncle Tony could take care of business and have a break.

They took me to see the new place--The Oaks at Behesda. This was a perfect time to visit. The trees lining both sides of the street were in bloom---red buds---so pretty. The villa they are getting has been completely re-done and they got to pick out everything.

There is a small porch where you can have a couple chairs. When you walk through the front door, there is a small entry. To the right is a good sized bedroom, closet and bathroom.

I like the bay window. There is room to put a chair and table there.

To the left of the entry is this.

 Yes, it is this big! I don't have any fancy lenses, this was taken with my iPhone. The whole place is 1750 square feet---actually pretty large.

 The countertops are a real pretty quartz.

Everything is new---cabinets, counters, flooring and appliances. There is a lot of storage in this kitchen, but about half of what they had. They are downsizing from their big house on the golf course. Aunt Marie has a serious problem getting rid of stuff. I'm not quite sure what they are going to do. I tried just going through her wallet as it was stuffed full of cards. She had 6---yes 6---AARP cards--many old and expired-- and she wouldn't let me get rid of a single one! You get the picture. She was getting very agitated. Part of it is the dementia and part is that she's always had trouble with too much paper. I cleaned out her files years ago and just got rid of duplicate papers and business cars. That freaked her out back then! You can imagine how she is now.

There is no pantry. Uncle Tony is buying some baskets for the shelving to somewhat hide things. Considering he's 83 years old, he's done most of the packing himself. I'm pretty amazed. He's always had a lot of nervous energy. He still bounds up his double flight of stairs from the lower level of their house.

There is a nice sized Florida room off the living room and master bedroom. There's a door that goes out to a small deck. I love the beadboard ceiling and moulding details. The master bath is huge. This is the first time they will have counter height vanities!

Uncle Tony even took me to see the storage unit he rented. I'm not sure why, but I acted excited. He's already hauled all the boxes of their Christmas decorations. Still too many of those, but he said whatever they don't use at Christmas, he'll get rid of. I know how that goes!

I loved this place for them. I could go for it myself if it had another bedroom and just a little more space. I'll be going back next week to keep Aunt Marie occupied for 3.5 days while the actual moving is happening. I do plan to go back and help with the unpacking too. A lot of work for sure and they can use the help.

One thing I know from this experience. I DO NOT want to wait until we're in our 80's to move! If we do, I can guarantee you one thing---I won't be doing it! We'll have to hire people to do every single thing.