Transitioning from old to old old.
A Carnival of Casseroles
The cool kids in the gerontology department where I studied would call the neighborhood where I live a NORC — a naturally occurring retirement community. It wasn’t designed to be a retirement community — which would have made it an unnaturally occurring retirement community. It was designed to be an all-ages community, but the people who bought houses in it grew old, then retired, and then grew even older.
I am one of the old people who live here. Some of my neighbors have become “old old.” This is another gerontology designation, and one I hope to reach. The homes of the old old are the ones with cars out front bearing the logos of home care service providers. None of those cars park in front of my house yet, although my weekly house cleaners do, and that’s the first step.
When the old old people transition to dead — a gerontology term meaning no longer of interest to gerontology students — their houses pass to ordinary old people through inheritance or purchase. As a retired probate lawyer, I know that most inheritances pass from the old old to the old. If instead of passing by inheritance, the house is sold, either by the estate or because the owner is moving to institutional care, the only people who can afford to buy it are old people. That is because we old people bought houses back when…
