“Age-Friendly Carbondale” works to make it possible for people of any age to live here comfortably. This month’s columnist shows that we have a long way to go.
-Ron Kokish, Ed.

It seems contrarian, moving from west to east. The sun and stars rise in the east and set in the west. I always meant to go that way too, but by the time you read this, my husband Mason and I will be living in Longmont, over the Great Divide that bifurcates Colorado.

Our intention was to have our beloved Two Rivers Unitarian Congregation hold a memorial for us when we died and scatter our ashes on Mt. Sopris. Mason, age 92, has had a couple of mini-strokes. I’m 72 with incurable autoimmune liver disease. We’re definitely on the grim reaper’s list, and with mathematical reason, we figured for years that he’d go first. However, in January, I had a pancreatitis attack that sent me to Valley View Hospital’s emergency room. During my recovery, I realized that I could no longer count on coping, much less caring for Mason without the help from what I’ll call Carbondale’s “Missing Essentials.” (The waiting list at Sopris Lodge independent living, our only option in Carbondale, is probably longer than my lifespan.)

Missing Essential #1: Handyman. When I got home from the hospital, Mason offered to heat me some frozen French onion soup, but he couldn’t do it. He said the oven wasn’t working. I thought he’d forgotten how to turn it on. Turned out he was right, but I couldn’t get a repairman. I wound up ordering parts from Amazon, watching how-to videos on YouTube, wrestling the oven out from the wall and, over the course of a week, repairing it myself. (Repairing gas and electric devices is way outside this retired editor and art teacher’s safety zones!) Luckily, Matt Harrington saw my plea for help on the “Buy Nada” Facebook group and sent his son Max over to put the oven door back on.

Missing Essential #2: Snow Removal Person. It snowed and the Town plowed our street. But because of up-and-down temperatures (global warming, expect more), my driveway was a sheet of ice. Someone managed to remove the snowbank between the street and my driveway (a neighbor?) so that Mason could drive to City Market for my prescriptions, but even with my little snowblower, I couldn’t manage my double-width, north-facing driveway. Driving over snow turns it into more ice. This scared me because my friend Niki Delson had just fallen on ice and was in an ICU in Grand Junction recovering from a skull fracture with brain bleeding. I had been trying for nearly five years to hire someone dependable for snow removal, but no luck. Waiting for a teenager to come on Saturday when I needed the prescription on Wednesday following a Tuesday surgery could have been fatal.

Missing Essential #3: Food Deliveries. Mary Kenyon started Valley Meals and More (VM&M) a few years back, delivering meals to COVID-vulnerable elders and disabled folks. It’s been a lifeline, but it relies on volunteers delivering restaurant food, it’s only four lunches a week and there’s no vegetarian option. Still, VM&M and Domino’s are the only food deliverers in Carbondale, so please support Domino’s and donate to VM&M (www.valleymealsandmore.com).

Missing Essential # 4: Places to live. I am happy to say that my house (maybe the last “attainable,” if not affordable, house in Carbondale) was purchased by a local high school teacher and his wife. I was determined to not wreck the neighborhood by selling to second-home owners/investors who’d barely be here and was stunned by how fast my house sold without ever being on the market. I saw the teacher’s dad at the “Green Is the New Black” Fashion Show on March 9, and got an offer from his son on March 13. I told my church goodbye on Sunday, March 12, and got 13 calls about my house in two days, all by word of mouth. The house was never listed.

I received great care from Valley View Hospital and had the best primary care doctor ever at Glenwood Medical Associates. It wasn’t lack of medical care that sent me east; it was the Missing Essentials and I think #4 is the primary reason the first three are absent. Thanks to everyone who helped fill the vacuum: Susan Proctor, Kim Bock, Larry Bogatz, Jan Quint, Megan Currier, MinTze Wu, Adelaide Wu, Matt Harrington, Max Harrington, Rev. Aaron Norris and so many more. I am weeping as I write this because I’m leaving so many good friends.

Raleigh Burleigh asked me to write one final column after the 40 or so I wrote for The Sopris Sun under the title, “Seeking Higher Ground.” I was grumpy and ill and couldn’t manage it when he asked, so Raleigh, consider this my “adieu.” For now, I am only going over the great divide to Boulder County, not yet over that other great divide leading to the final sunset. If my health stabilizes for a while, I hope to be back as a visitor this summer.

Mature Content is a monthly feature from Age-Friendly Carbondale.