Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/674878
SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 LIVE IT UP! 15 As Broker/Owner, I have been in residential sales for over 30 years serving the Santa Cruz county area "Specializing in senior retirement living". Satisfied clients appreciate my compassion towards their personal needs and attention to detail. Completing degrees in both business and fine arts, I chose to further enhance my real estate career to better serve my clients. Advanced credentials include: Certified Residential Specialist • Senior Residential Specialist • Accredited Buyer's Agent • Graduate RE.Institute. Gail D. LoBello Broker/Owner ABR, CRS, GRI, SRES, REALTOR G L Crown Real Estate, Inc. DRE #00523219 831-462-4825 • GailLoBello@sbcglobal.net WWW.GAILLOBELLO.COM We plan to maintain good health, to send kids to college, to throw weddings, to prepare memorials. Yet rarely do we plan for our own care as we age. More often than not, it's selling the family home that pays for final care. There is more to talk about. Get tips to on how to avoid chaos later by planning ahead now. ELDERCARE Changing the Conversation NavigatingOlderhood.com Terry Ballantyne REALTOR ® Sereno Group Real Estate www.terryballantyne.com (831) 588-8485 CalBRE#01257150 on Facebook at: facebook.com/mapsforaging I t is a strange fact of the human condition that we deny, defer, or ignore the fact that one day we will be feeble. We live in a land of plenty, life is bliss, and we are sequestered away from the aged. They are segregated into communities where we, or our children are not exposed to the ravages of time and illness. Long ago, Gramma was under the same roof and kids saw the cycle of birth and death. Gramma might be a little quirky, or deaf, or slow, or blind. Kids accommodated for Grammas frailties and pitched in to help. They saw the circle of life and it wasn't the Lion King. These days, that is all too messy, and as the woman at the market said to my mom, "Most people just put you in a home and gwain' about their business!" which is tempting. Caring for the aging is all work and very little reward, but someone has to do it. And if you don't have a child or sibling willing to help or move in with you, how do you intend to manage? I suggest you read Being Mortal, a savage revelation about how our lives are taken in the end and the stressful times when the body starts to let go. (spoiler alert, not everyone passes peacefully in their sleep) It will frighten you into the awareness that this social oversight needs more attention. Plan now, talk to your family, get it on the table. What do you want the end to look like? It's the final chapter in your book, don't leave it to the night nurse. Did You Know You Will Perish? By Terry Ballantyne, REALTOR® Sereno Group bigstockphoto.com