Kings Point

I'm spending much of the month of May in Kings Point, the active adult community my parents retired to in 1979, fixing up their condo to put it on the market. 

Of course the folks who live there now are not-so-active.  Many are in their upper 80s or 90s.  Baby Boomers seeking a nice but unpretentious place are moving in slowly.  Most choose Kings Point because they can honestly live there on a shoestring. 

When my folks retired from long hours of uninteresting work in frigid Chicago they thought they had found Nirvana in Kings Point.  It was warm and beautiful with three big clubhouses, indoor and outdoor pools, free bus service to take you anywhere you might care to go, cheap bagel places serving breakfast for a buck and a half, more clubs and neighbors and activities than you had time for, well stocked Jewish groceries and delis, and synagogues you could walk to.  There was terrific shopping, a first class hospital next door, a quaint and cutesy downtown and it's smack dab in the middle of much tonier homes and developments.  The years my parents spent in Kings Point were the happiest of their lives.

Kings Point also came to have a special place in my heart.  I thought to myself that whatever misfortune I might encounter (poo poo poo) there would "always be Kings Point".  I could grow old there and live on my social security check.  It was my home away from home.

But the tired old dining room set where we had our Seders and Thanksgivings, my parent's bedroom set that I would crawl into when I was scared, the TV stand that held the black and white set I watched Mickey Mouse on, and even the little desk and the hide-a-bed that are "new" at only 30 years old - I will say goodbye to them soon (I hope). 

But I think I'll keep the lamp I made in Mr. Courtney's 8th grade Home Economics class...

;-)