A home serves as a great vehicle for building equity. Though you do not need to own your home to have a good home, establishing roots for your family and for your memory as you grow older is important.
I look at so many old pictures belonging to our elder population in Woodbury and they tell stories of the times spent at home. I look at the table, the yard, imagine the aromas—where they made their home special with their own personal touches. The home was where they stood next to someone they loved who, for all we know, were trying their best not to fall apart; but instead to keep the family together. It is where they raised their children; where they persevered through pain, discouragement and suffering, while embracing the many joys and celebrations as well. Being together as an imperfect family, but a family with a sense of home.
Perhaps as we better define home and family, we could admit that not everything in our current era has seen a pattern of continual improvement. Each generation has its struggles, and this struggle is ours: to make home a better place for the next generation, as it was for the past generations that had the wisdom and grit to create a sense of home.
This is one thing we could surely learn from our elders as they struggle through the loneliness of isolation during these hopefully waning moments of COVID and quarantine.
Margaret Wachholz is the campus marketing director at Woodbury Senior Living. In her column, she shares observations and wisdom about aging and senior living in our community; woodburyseniorliving.com
