Ageless Generation: Believe it or not, getting old could also be enjoyable!

Ageless Generation: Believe it or not, getting old could also be enjoyable!

Published 3:30 am Wednesday, April 22, 2026

By Michael Smith

for the Sequim Gazette

Every yr when May rolls round, a U.S. Government company, the USDA’s Administration for Community Living, tells us it’s time to have a good time the inescapable reality that all of us are getting old.

Celebrate getting old? Some would possibly say, ‘You gotta be kidding!’

If an individual will not be having fun with their very own getting old, they might assume it unusual to be inspired to have a good time it. Do any of us actually prefer to be reminded by the federal government or by different those who we’re getting older? Our personal joints are beginning to remind us with out saying a phrase!

Think about that final time your birthday cake truly had a candle on it for yearly. Been some time? Do you seek advice from your knees as “good” and “bad” as an alternative of “right” and “left”?

You get the image … so what’s there to have a good time?

Let’s return to the federal government web site on this. This May the Older Americans Month theme is a laudable one: Champion Your Health. It explains that we must be specializing in prevention, wellness, and private accountability as “cornerstones of healthy aging.”

It encourages taking an energetic function in managing our personal well being, advocating for ourselves, accessing preventative care, and making “informed decisions that support independence.” And, I would add, if we’d like assist with all that, we should always willingly and actively search the assistance that we’d like.

Well, that doesn’t sound so unhealthy, does it?

You are by no means too previous to participate in actions that may enrich your bodily, psychological, and emotional well-being. A giant a part of championing your well being could possibly be so simple as getting out and discovering folks and a spot to attach — and that’s the place Shipley Center is available in.

It’s that connectedness with different folks that can assist us dwell longer and richer lives. We can take part in actions like these on the Center, the place our theme is “Friendship * Recreation * Education.”

“Friendship” is first as a result of having others to take pleasure in issues with can improve the leisure and academic advantages of what we do. Sure, there are occasions to be alone — at dwelling, studying, pondering, meditating or praying, having fun with TV, solitaire, or a interest — however human beings are, at their core, social creatures!

Come on out and play! Make time to Champion Your Health with others at Shipley Center. Maybe you have already got numerous pals — that’s nice … deliver them with you. Enjoy lunch in Leo’s Café collectively or take a category. Someone you meet in an exercise or at a social occasion could have only a few pals, and you would brighten their day by talking a form phrase and getting acquainted. It is as much as you and your character sort, after all, however attempt to stretch your self to seek out one thing new to do and somebody new to satisfy from time to time. (I even know of some circumstances of real love being discovered right here on the Center, so don’t rule that risk out!)

And now our month-to-month constructing replace:

Speaking of affection, you will love our new constructing! We are transferring from 11,000 sq. ft to 29,000 sq. ft by renovating Sequim’s former JCPenney constructing into the brand new dwelling for our senior heart, Shipley Center.

This month, nearly all of the wall-framing is completed, which for us visible learners defines the areas so we are able to see the configurations and dimensions of the rooms. Having the steel studs in place permits for electrical wiring, plugs and switches to be put in. In addition, our new shiny and environment friendly LED lighting fixtures will quickly be in place. All plumbing drain traces are in and the availability traces to cold and warm are being put in. Soon a brand new energy-saving (and non-leaking) water heater will arrive. Then, not lengthy after that, we’ll get our snazzy ADA-accessible ingesting fountains with bottle fillers! (As seen in airports and different happenin’ locations.)

After all of the ‘in-wall’ objects are inspected, we now have a drywaller lined as much as get occurring a herculean process — lifting and putting in an estimated 1,000 sheets of 5/8ths-inch-thick sheetrock! And final, however not least, we’re beginning work on the development and décor of our new Leo’s Café kitchen and eating areas, that are going to operate and look nice.

We proceed to be grateful that our mission has been injury-free, on schedule, and below price range, so please want us continued success in all of those features of this endeavor. To these philanthropists on the market: Your one-time or month-to-month monetary assist is invested responsibly and is actually appreciated. We belief that generations to come back will take pleasure in what we’re constructing collectively.

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Michael Smith is govt director of the Shipley Center.