I’m of the generation now referred to as the “Baby Boomers”, some even called us Flower Children. We grew up with Woodstock, love beads, Bob Dylan, Gloria Steinem and Vietnam. We were proud of who we were, what we could achieve and the belief that we could conquer any adversity, we were the future and reveled in our brilliance and strength.
Now after a lifetime of hard work and growing a family, to which I gave my all, I found myself phasing into being referred to as a Senior. Not sure how that even happened. I wondered about how not to fade into the abyss of old age and loneliness that I kept hearing about?
So, with some burst of “I am still powerful” I moved to NJ from LI to be closer to my daughter. I chose the Four Seasons of Great Notch (FSGN) in Woodland Park. I was thinking that I had sent my kids to sleep away camp, so why not take a turn at camp life myself?
FSGN was carved out of a mountain and it sits high above the surrounding communities. There are 811 units consisting of town houses and garden homes. The property is beautifully manicured, and when it snows management takes care of the shoveling. There are clubs for every heartbeat, like the Social club, the Shalom club, the Italian American club, the Asian American club, the Veterans club, and the huge clubhouse is filled with residents participating in all of their planned activities. There’s a full gym, with classes and trainers, an indoor and outdoor pool and even Tennis, Pickleball and Bocce courts. The card rooms are always busy with Mah Jongg, Canasta, Bridge, Poker and Samba players and the library is filled with every read imaginable, maintained by the Literary club.
So when I said it’s my turn to be in camp, it’s being here at FSGN. There’s no camp visiting day, luckily my children visit all the time.