From Lacy

There’s no nursing home in my future. When I get old and feeble, I’m checking into a nice motel.

The average cost for a nursing home is at least $188 per day and rising. I’ve already checked on reservations at a local Holiday Inn. With a combined long-term-stay discount and senior discount, it’s $49.23 per night. That leaves $138.77 a day for breakfast, lunch and dinner in any restaurant I want, or room service, as well as laundry, gratuities and special TV movies.

Good motels provide a swimming pool, a workout room, a lounge, washer, dryer, etc. Most have free toothpaste and razors, and all have free shampoo and soap. They treat you like a customer, not a patient. A few bucks in tips a day will have the entire staff scrambling to help you. There’s a city bus stop out front, and seniors ride free. To meet other nice people, call a church bus on Sundays.

For a change of scenery, take the airport shuttle bus and eat at one of the nice restaurants there. While you’re at the airport, fly somewhere. Otherwise, the cash keeps building up.

It takes months to get into decent nursing homes. A motel will take your reservation today. And you’re not stuck in one place forever - you can move from Inn to Inn, or even from city to city.
Want to see Hawaii? It has motels, too.

TV broken? Light bulbs need changing? Need to have the mattress replaced? No problem! They fix everything and apologize for the inconvenience.

They provide a night security person and daily room service. The maid checks to see if you’re OK. If not, they’ll call the undertaker or an ambulance. If you fall and break a hip, Medicare will pay for the hip and the motel might upgrade you to a suite.

And - you have no worries about visits from family. They’ll always be glad to find you, and probably check in for a few days mini-vacation. The grandkids can use the pool. What more can you ask for?

So, when I reach the golden age - I’ll face it with a grin.