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    Settling In: My First Year in a Retirement Community
    Settling In: My First Year in a Retirement Community
    Settling In: My First Year in a Retirement Community
    Ebook176 pages2 hours

    Settling In: My First Year in a Retirement Community

    By Richard L. Morgan

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    About this ebook

    Richard L. Morgan has carved a niche as a bestselling author and an authority on older adult ministries and concerns. Now, he chronicles his own transition to a retirement community.

    Morgan speaks frankly about the losses and realities as he approached his own not-yet-frail "fourth quarter" (after age 75). Drawing from his journals of those sometimes-agonizing months, he takes us through his decision to move to a long-term facility and the first year of settling in.

    "The retirement community became my home, and I must confront the inevitable illnesses of old age … every day," Morgan writes. "While I could not minimize the difficulties and issues I faced in this new lifestyle, it gave me a view of this life as an insider. I became a participant, not an observer [as before in my ministry]."

    Morgan addresses the fears of life after 75: loss of health, cognitive ability, short-term memory, independence and status. Fifty-two scripture passages, meditations and prayers offer hope for those along this intense pilgrimage.

    As one reviewer says, "Settling In speaks loudly of the continuing call of a God with hands outstretched, who is always challenging us to further horizons, larger concerns and constantly surprising us with news to love and be loved."

    Morgan's soul-baring reflections are invaluable for those considering a move to a retirement community, current residents, their family and friends, and staff of facilities.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherUpper Room Books
    Release dateJan 1, 2007
    ISBN9780835812955
    Settling In: My First Year in a Retirement Community
    Author

    Richard L. Morgan

    Richard L. Morgan is a retired chaplain, pastor (PCUSA), and professor. He most recently served as a volunteer chaplain at Redstone Highlands, the senior living community where he resided near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He holds a bachelor of arts degree from Davidson College; a master of divinity, master of theology, and PhD from Union Theological Seminary; and a master of counseling from Wake Forest University, Richard was named the 1987 Man of the Year by the city of Lenoir, NC; awarded the 2013 Presbyterian Older Adult Ministry Award; and honored as the 2015 Volunteer of the Year at Redstone Highlands Senior Living Community.

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    • 5/5
      "Getting older is not for sissies," Bette Davis memorably quoted on Johnny Carson. She was correct, but who helps us deal with the vicissitudes of old age? It turns out that COMMUNITY can play a leading role in a happier tomorrow, if we allow it to become our neighbor.Many today claim they want to "age in place," assuming, I think, that the "place" will remain the same, that their neighbors won't move to Florida or in with their children, or heavens! predecease them.Morgan and his wife leave their community in North Carolina, to move closer to their daughter in a retirement community in Pennsylvania that will care for them through to the end. It was a tough transition. They knew no one except their daughter and her family. They were not needed by these strangers who walked in the same hallways. But slowly Morgan (he writes only of his own transition, not his wife's) finds his way. First within the independent living section, then in the assisted living, finally making his way to the dementia care unit. He and his wife, through patient hunting, found a church home for themselves. And, at the end of his first year, Morgan had branched out into the wider community.This book gives good guidance. Not that all of us should follow exactly in Morgan's footsteps, but that we each need to "get over it." We need to "get out of ourselves" (our aches and pains, our diminishments, our woes) and find ways to increase the happiness quotient in the community we find ourselves in. Listen and look for where our gifts may be valued. We each have them. Look for what brings us joy. This is probably God's call to us!

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    Settling In - Richard L. Morgan

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