Independent Living

Thrive With a Little Help From Your Friends at Kingston

Imagine a place that’s all about you - a place where you can live in comfort while you conveniently pursue your hobbies, cultivate new interests and nourish a healthy and more social lifestyle!

Independent Living is ideal for residents who are capable of managing almost every aspect of their lives, yet relish the convenient services and benefits of daily meal preparation, medication management, housekeeping and more.

Independent living residents come to us for a variety of reasons. Some are tired of looking after their homes, some are eager to enjoy more leisure time, and others are excited to participate in easily accessible socialization and wellness activities.

We hope that you might drop in for a visit and experience first-hand what makes our independent living communities special. In the meantime, enjoy this candid testimony from one of our residents, whose storyline begins with the challenging decision to move on from his family home.

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A Resident's Testimony of Independent Living at Kingston

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We were experiencing what many of our aging peers have encountered - our children had moved out of town to raise families of their own and we were hesitant to relocate and leave behind the life we had become accustomed to at home.

But life at home wasn't the same anymore. After retiring some 10 years ago, my wife and I were finding that our newfound free time wasn't adding up to the social life and endeavors we imagined for ourselves. I suppose that part of the problem was the energy and time we were investing toward looking after ourselves and the aging family home. We were spending more time fixing the disposal, managing clutter and possessions, tending to the laundry and keeping a watchful eye on our health than we had anticipated.

Quite frankly, it was becoming more physically taxing to keep up with the demands of life than it was just a year or two ago, which I had trouble admitting to my wife, Gwen.

We enlisted the help of contractors and service providers but often found that the time we spent managing them nearly equaled the time we spent doing it ourselves. While we could always ask a favor of a friend or family member, we didn't want to become a burden to their busy lives.

And so we decided it was time to make a change.

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The Fear of Change

Gwen and I began looking into all of our living options. The research and relocation process seemed daunting. Thankfully, Kingston offers a really handy independent living pricing and comparison tool to weight the differences and quality of life between living at home, utilizing home health services or moving into a senior community. Still, the momentum Gwen I would build toward moving into a smaller home or into a retirement community would fizzle out - partly due to the perceived convenience of not making any change at all.

In retrospect we wished we had spent less time haggling over the research process and made the decision to move to Kingston as soon as we knew it felt right. To complicate matters, Gwen and I had this fantasy of living out our golden years in Morocco, where we had vacationed regularly since 1992. In the end, the time zone difference with our family in California and the requirement to continue to manage a home flamed out our ambitious daydreams and led us back to considering our options back home.

Home Health was on the table, where we would have a nurse come by to help manage our medications and provide regular treatments to my and Gwen’s diabetes condition. We considered it strongly, but in the end we weren’t comfortable with the reviews a friend had shared with us citing the constant staff turnover as a challenge in finding reliable and trustworthy service.

By the time we took our 2nd tour of Kingston Independent Living, we had the context of other options at our disposal, which made the decision to move to their community much easier to make.

In no time at all we came to appreciate the “smaller” apartment-style living that was such a hang-up for us in the beginning of the process. Instead of asking “where are we going to put all of our stuff”, we felt liberated by having less possessions in our 2 bedroom companion suite, which provided plenty of room to furnish our cherished belongings and host guests in the privacy and comfort of our own space.

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Independence Made Possible by Convenience

Since moving in, we’ve found it much easier to stay active. We’ve found it convenient to participate in weekly exercise activities- which I should mention has had a positive effect on my heart rate.

Gwen and I are eating more regularly than we were at home, and always in the company of our good friends in Kingston’s community dining room. Last week, we ordered in from our favorite Moroccan restaurant and invited our regular dinner guests and some staff over to try it - what a thrill it was to share our love of the cuisine with others!

We sold Gwen’s car a couple years back and downsized from my truck to a sedan, which has made it much easier to zip around town - but i’m finding less inclination to deal with traffic when most of what we need is at Kingston. We eat 3 meals a day without the need to grocery shop, we schedule our regular health check-ups with the on-staff nurse practitioner, and we schedule our hair appointments with the stylist at the community salon.

And when we do need to get around town, Gwen and I have found it more fun to take advantage of the resident concierge shuttle!

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Maximizing Life By Downsizing

The biggest advantage to spending our retirement years at Kingston is the life it's provided us outside of the resident community.

Gwen and I love the arts, and we’ve made more visits to the theatre in one year than we had in the past 5 years combined. I’m also happy to report that our desire to spend time in Morocco has been satisfied more since moving into Kingston, we spent a week there last year with my daughter, and we've made plans to return next spring.

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When our family comes to town over the holidays, my son is quite appreciative of not having to dig into my tools and tend to my home improvements "to-do" list. The idea of not hosting holiday get-togethers in our family home was a sticking point between Gwen and I when we were considering the move, but like anything else, we found a way to adapt. Every year around Christmas, we've made it a tradition to invite the kids over for a family dinner at Kingston's private dining room. We'll then rent a home where we all can gather and enjoy more quality time than we could have trying to pack everyone into our old family home.

Relax, You’ve Earned It

Perhaps the biggest benefit I can share with anyone considering leaving their family home for a senior living community is the replenishment of energy that comes from downsizing and having a team of helping hands on your side 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

When I look back on what took us so long, I suppose there was a sense of foolish pride that kept me from making the leap, something about wanting to preserve our old way of life and continuing to be self-sufficient. In reality, life doesn’t get better with age unless you know how to ask for help - and when we did, life certainly did get better.

We live life on our terms more today than the final 5 years we spent in our family home. All we need now is a key to the apartment, and all those other pesky details of life are taken care of by our close friends at Kingston.

With that, I encourage you to drop by for a look at how much simpler and enjoyable life can be when you ask for a little help from your friends at Kingston.

Relax, you’ve earned it!

Don & Gwen

Drop in for a tour anytime

We are proud to have Don & Gwen call Kingston home. If you have any questions regarding our Independent Living communities or would like to schedule a tour, please refer to our location finder to begin your search!

Comfort

Kingston Independent Living residents can choose from a range of living spaces, from studio apartments to one- and two-bedroom options. In addition, each Kingston Residence features well-appointed community spaces to relax and socialize.

Care

The team at Kingston is dedicated to delivering genuine care and genuine compassion. Residents have access to licensed nurses as well as medication administration, chronic disease management and a full-time on-staff nurse practitioner.

Security

Independent doesn’t mean alone! Our people — from the front desk to the security staff — get to know every resident, so you can depend on not only 24/7 medical support, but also the peace of mind that comes from living in a fully secure community.

Available at these locations: