Dear Blake,
My husband and I are elderly. We live in a renovated shack I inherited from my family. The neighborhood is degrading, and I’m trying to decide whether to build a new home out in the country on property I own.
If I do, my family, which needs a better place to live, could live in my current house. But I’m worried about the physical and emotional toll it will take on my husband and me to improve the wooded property. I also worry about issues like potential dementia living nearly 30 miles from town in the country.
No matter how much I weigh the pros and cons, I can’t reach a decision whether to build or not. Because of our ages, it’s now or never. Can you please help me decide?
Signed, Polly
From Idanha, Oregon
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Dear Polly,
I’m not sure why you and your husband wants to improve property considering you’re both senior citizens. This is a time when you should be relaxing, enjoying life, and sponging off your grown kids. Anyway, here’s my perspective. Do not try to improve wooded property, because at your ages, you two might forget how matches work, and accidentally burn down the entire county. Living 30 miles from town in the country is ok if a person has dementia, because there aren’t that many places they can wander to, including bothering neighbors by asking them directions on how to get home… which might even be next door. Living in a shack is not necessarily a bad thing. Shacks are even good to live in, because burglars don’t waste their time entering a house, if the outside looks like there’s nothing inside worth stealing. And finally, keep in mind that there are wolves in the area where you live. Wolves like to see elderly couples holding hands, because they can casually walk beside one spouse, while devouring the other. The good news is, you will still be able to hold your husband’s hand, because more than likely, that’ll be all of him that’s left. I hope this helps.
Blake