For the next four months or so, I shall be quite distracted. How is that any different from the norm? you may ask. Indeed so. At any rate, yesterday, my wife and I learned that our name had come to the top of a waiting list, and we shall, roughly four months from now, be moving from our present apartment into something called a continuing care retirement community, or CCRC. A CCRC is an upper middle class cross between an old people's home and a spa, complete with dining rooms, a mini-golf course, and assisted living facilities for those no longer able to look after themselves. It is, for many of the residents, their last home. As my characterization probably communicates, I am profoundly ambivalent about the move, but I believe that it is the right thing for the two of us at this point. The CCRC to which we are moving is only about six miles from our present apartment, so not a great deal will change for me, save that I shall no longer be making dinner every evening. In particular, I shall be quite close enough to UNC Chapel Hill to give my projected series of lectures next Fall on Marx for YouTube.
Needless to say, the blog will go on unruffled. There is no escaping the Cloud.
Out of curiosity, how far below the one percent are you?
ReplyDeleteCarol Wood?
ReplyDelete(Did you mean you'll cook no dinners, or that it isn't the case that you'll cook every dinner?
Carolina Meadows. I will probably cook dinner four or five times a month, maybe fewer.
ReplyDeleteMy household does not make it into the top 10%, but we are not very far below them.
I say congratulations, Professor. I don't doubt that you deserve anything but the best in your Golden Years, so I hope it is as enjoyable and convenient as it sounds.
ReplyDeleteFrom previous posts of yours, I have the impression that you like to cook and are a good cook. As I imagine that eating in the dining room is optional, wouldn't you prefer to go on cooking if you have the time?
ReplyDeleteIn any case, I'm sure that you've made the right decision about your new home and that you and your wife will be very comfortable there.
I really enjoy shopping for food and cooking in Paris. Not so much in Chapel Hill. But the monthly fee for the two of us includes an allotment for the dining hall, whether we use it or not, so I think we shall use it. The dining hall also charges a "corkage fee" of $2 if we bring our own wine, which deeply offends me, but nothing is perfect. :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good move! Change of topic: It's looking more and more like they're going to get this s.o.b. My bet is that even now some Deep Throat is lurking around some parking garage waiting to be discovered.
ReplyDeleteThere is a touch of sadness in your note, which saddens me and others no doubt. So I hope the change proves to be just what you had hoped it would be and then some.
ReplyDeleteTom, I think you may be right. Often I have wondered, how is it possible that Donald Trump is president of the United States?
Surely there are powerful and intelligence people scattered throughout the establishment who might guard against such calamities or push a stick into the spokes somehow, somewhere. Clearly the Electoral College failed. Now with the Sessions imbroglio, I am hopeful that with all its faults, the US of A - whoever that may be - doesn't suffer fool presidents gladly.
It would seem that the U.S. power elite would like to get rid of Trump, who is more and more of an embarassment and the object of ridicule the world over. I guess that the problem is that while from where we sit, the power elite looks fairly unified, in reality it's a war of all against all, with nobody trusting anyone else, with intense personal rivalties in addition to rivalties for power and money. Thus, it will take them a while to get it together to get rid of Trump, but I'd bet that he will not last 4 years.
ReplyDeleteMy grandparents made a similar move in their late eighties and found it quite invigorating in terms of the new community and activities (and gossip, they moved around the time I went to college and the social circles didn't seem all that different). It may have helped that they were in lower Manhattan, but while you may be farther from Broadway I think it could still be interesting. Key your eye on the food, though; the corporation's that run these places aren't always up to buying quality ingredients.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck Professor Wolff! Hope you find your time at this new community rewarding and beneficial!
ReplyDeleteBest wishes, Professor Wolff. Let us know about the community you are joining.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck. A question (that haunts me as we contemplate moving after 35 years): Where are you going to put your books? We'll be downsizing from a house to an apartment, but it is very unlikely we'll find one that can accommodate the books. And without my books, I'll be lost.
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