“We Aren’t Old”
By Rebecca Quinn, Fountain View Village, Scottsdale LIVING WELL Magazine
It seems like yesterday I was walking down the aisle on my daddy’s arm and then I blinked and now my husband and I are celebrating our 50th anniversary. We have had a great life together; four wonderful children and eight grandchildren. They are all grown now and have lives of their own. When we were deciding where to retire, we were torn between staying in Upper Michigan and moving to Arizona; we have two children in each state. We settled on the best of both worlds: being “snowbirds,” spending our summers in Upper Michigan and wintering in Arizona.
This was working out wonderfully until the arthritis in my husband’s back became unbearable. He had been in an accident years ago and was now in a lot of pain and having a hard time walking. His doctor advised us to make a permanent move to Arizona’s warmer, drier climate. We talked it over with our kids, and they all agreed that his health came first. We packed up our things and headed west. Since we were already making a change, we thought we might make a lifestyle change as well. We weren’t getting any younger, and I was tired of cooking and cleaning. We retired several years ago, but I wanted to retire from those duties as well. We knew we wanted a large apartment and a place with good food.
Coming from a small town, Fountain Hills was very attractive to us from the start and then we found Fountain View Village. It was such a beautiful community surrounded by a nice quiet neighborhood and we thought it was perfect for us. But could we really afford to live here? Rebecca Quinn, director of sales and marketing at Fountain View Village, had gone over the costs with me on the phone when I made the appointment and assured me that we could. From the moment we walked in it felt like home. Yvonne, the concierge, welcomed us with, “Hello, you must be the Butinas, we have been expecting you!” Rebecca came out momentarily and handed my husband a Yankees hat. She remembered from our phone conversation that he was a huge Yankees fan. She was instantly winning him over, he was very reluctant about considering a retirement community; “We aren’t old!”, he kept saying. When she showed us the spacious two-bedroom apartment with the incredible mountain views, I was pretty much sold. I could imagine a typical day; starting with a cup of coffee on my patio while watching the sun rise, then going to the dining room for breakfast. I would have homemade pastries and fresh fruit and he would have oatmeal, his daily favorite. After breakfast, we would go to the fitness center and work out on the exercise equipment that Rebecca had explained was designed just for us. “It uses air for resistance instead of weights and is much easier on your body.” Or, we could take a quick drive to Scottsdale and go shopping at Scottsdale Fashion Square. The best part of the day would be when we had a “home cooked” dinner, without me having to cook it. We would end the day by watching a movie in the theater. As we walked around, she pointed out the fun things we can do at Fountain View Village and outside of the community. She said during spring training and baseball season we will take trips to the Diamondbacks games and this year we would be going to the Yankees game! John loves going to the games and this way we don’t have to worry about the traffic or parking. After hearing that, he was sold.
On the way back to my daughter’s, John commented, “I thought we were too young to live in a retirement community, but as we walked around and talked with some of the residents, I realized we would be foolish to wait. We need to do this while we are still young and healthy enough to enjoy all that this lifestyle has to offer.” Shortly after our visit we moved into Fountain View Village. We are so happy with our decision and still think we should have done it five years ago.
This story is a compilation of real life events of Rebecca’s residents and family. Rebecca is the director of sales and marketing at Fountain View Village in Fountain Hills, AZ. For more information or to arrange a visit to Fountain View Village, please call her at 480-836-5081.
