A Car, A Car, My Kingdom for a Car!

By Ann Burnside Love

With apologies to Shakespeare’s “Richard III,” transportation is a very big thing for most retirees. For years, as we retain our independence, driving our own car is one of the most important things we do. We drive to the mall and the grocery store, our physicians’ offices, to the golf course, tennis courts, bowling alleys, restaurants, and to our children’s homes if they live nearby. We drive to special events and meetings. We explore the national parks, spend the winter in warm places and drive there whenever it’s the right time.

But “the right time” usually doesn’t last as long as we last! We find our habits in general slowly changing. Before we know it, we’re driving our cars within smaller ranges. Eventually we are driving whenever we really need to go out. We ask our children, if we have any, and if they live nearby, to take us to our medical appointments. Or we ask friends for a ride to the mall. As our driving disappears, we find a local pharmacy delivers prescriptions to our retirement community, and a staff technician here takes samples regularly to send to a medical lab. Our in-house nursing staff provides us with blood pressure checks and first aid.

A dear, lifetime friend of mine, one of the most capable and independent women I’ve known, is going through the “it isn’t safe for me, or others on the road, for me to drive anymore” stage, followed by the “I’ve got to dispose of my car” phase. I’m taking her to restaurants, and she’s experimenting with using the many transportation services our retirement community offers as dependable standards. Our community has many residents who depend on its buses that run twice a week to get groceries. The bus drops them off at their choice of three shopping centers one day and three others the second day a week. (This, of course, inevitably, includes Walmart for more general errands.)

Many book one of our community drivers for their medical appointments, including those residents who might have driven there but who wouldn’t be comfortable driving home afterwards. (I’m one of those.) We sign up for bus trips to go to church, theaters, the planetarium, local concerts, and to Washington, D.C., to see the Christmas lights or the cherry blossoms, or a show at the Kennedy Center — or visit Harbor Place in Baltimore or one of the concert halls there.

And about relinquishing your car, the obvious is to give it to one of your eligible children or grandchildren, sell it, or donate it to one of the many charitable organizations that desire cars — and will come for them!

The point is, of course, that life after driving doesn’t have to mean you’re housebound — by any means. It just means you’ll have to do a bit of planning ahead, and you’ve already been doing that your whole life. That’s why you’re living in a full service retirement community, or are seriously considering moving into one!

So give up those keys when it’s time to do so — for your own sake and the sake of others. Your car will find a new home, just like you have done already! Carry on!

Ann’s blog appears here every Thursday. Your comments are welcome and appreciated!