Why I moved to Revere, why I am moving into assisted living

I  loved living in Brighton Center, I really did.  Everything was within walking distance, the bus was right down the block.  I had a beautiful park right across the street.  Vibrant coffee shops, nice little diners, even a good wiccan store.  All within walking - hobbling distance of my apartment.  You would think for  a social butterfly like me it would have been a slice of heaven.

And it was, some times. 

Mostly it was like living in a bus station.  Each time a new person moved in to the building I would go introduce myself. Try to get the other neighbors to connect with each other, you know make a real community.   Apartments were rented sublet and loaned up each semester.  Absente land lords, or parents paying for an apartment who did not care what their kids did.   Some places had as many as six people living in a two bedroom apartment.  

The college student creep started in my building, and then spread to other houses near by.  I had neighbors move out because they were tired of living next to students.  I moved out because I got tired of living next to students.  I had fond memories of summers when the building was almost empty, and I could sleep through the night.  They went hand and hand with the worry that someone might break into the empty units.   Then September would arrive and suddenly I was living in a dorm.  Only I choose not to be the house mother.

As the people who needed a full nights sleep,  moved out, kids who never slept moved in.  Me, I wanted to live in a neighborhood where  I had zero chance of having to clean up barf from the front step.  Or deal with trash in the court yard every weekend. 

I had the Department of Sanitation  in Boston on my speed dial.  Because every warm weekend someone decided Rogers Park was a good place for a keg party.  Instead of calling 911, I just called D-14 direct to let them know they needed to show their colors. 

I miss Brighton, the Brighton I remember from years and years ago, the Brighton that Oak Square still is for the most part.  A community where every one knows everyone else. A community where you have the same neighbor for more than a year.  A neighborhood where every one respects every one else.

I have that now in Revere.  I hope to have it in my new place as well.  I'm nervous about moving into assisted living.  Looked at the place today.  Pull cords in every room in case I fall, intercoms in the bathroom in case I need help.   An on site nurse practitioner, and a branch hospital right next door.  

Completely wheel chair accessible.   Dear who or whom ever it may concern, take me before I get that bad. 

I'm going to bed now, going to cry myself to sleep. A lot...