Senior Center
High ceilings, light, smiles…happy engaged humans. Playing cards, working out, creating works of art, eating meals together, learning, interacting. People in their 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and yes, even some over 100! Doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, teachers, actors, stay at home moms, workers in all fields. Members who traveled the world some who’ve never left Connecticut. High school drop outs to PHd’s to Poet Laureates & Pulitzer Prize winners. All coming together as equals. Sharing their strenghts, building bonds and friendships with the unlikliest of characters.
I have no children and for me the fear of being alone when I aged was real. Watching the seniors in my life, the loneliness and understimulation they experienced frightened me. Since then, I’ve witnessed my husband embrace and enjoy the Senior Center playing Bridge a few times a week. A place he said he would never go because it was for “old people”. He now values being around others and sharing a common interest. For me, his enthusiasm has shown me that I have nothing to fear.
The Y
A solid, beautifully designed brick building with leaded glass windows. Trees with wide trunks framing the welcoming main staircase. So what if that particular entrance wasn’t used anymore…the stories that those steps could tell. The building welcomed visitors that had strolled Wesport’s Main St. since 1923. The Y
I never entered the building, I just admired it whenever I walked by. News of their move shook up the town. Pitted neighbors against one another. The town was up in arms. I had no vested interest except the fear that such a precious landmark could be torn down. How could something that screamed Westport to me disappear? Once inside, before it closed it’s doors, I understood the reason for the move. The interior had seen better days. Frankly that is an understatment.
The move took place without the Y missing a beat. The building I loved so much was saved and was repurposed. Both the building and the Y movement within it, given new life.
Today I learned about the true mission of The Y and I have come to appreciate it as much as I appreciated that sturdy building it was housed in. Strength, beauty…inside and out.