WHERE SHALL WE MOVE?

By Jacqueline Bienias

South Haven, Michigan, 1990

Jackie, I got another job! It’s in Chicago. We can stay with my mom until the house sells. That’ll give us time to decide where we want to live. What do you think?

I thought, Home!

After twenty-one years, Ron and I moved back to where we grew up, where family was. Our Michigan house sold. As we looked for a new home, we found ourselves often in Lemont. Its historical small-town outdoor atmosphere, and its hills and valleys appealed to us. The piece de resistance was The Strand in the downtown area that sold South Haven’s Sherman’s ice cream where I could continue to get my favorite Chocolate Malt Supreme cone! We bought a house that, if necessary, would be big enough for our in-college children or our parents to live with us.

In 1999, the children moved in, along with our daughter’s husband and our son’s girlfriend. We were six working adults with different schedules, cooperatively cooking, cleaning, parking five cars, playing games, watching Friends, and enjoying Lemont activities. One of our favorites was being part of St. Alphonsus’ Christmas gifting to its sister church in Chicago. We chose tags from St. Al’s Christmas tree, bought and wrapped gifts, and one year actually got to deliver all the St. Al’s gifts to Epiphany. The smiles and Thank Yous of the parishioners warmed our hearts.

The kids moved out and moved on with their lives. Ron’s father had died in 1987, mine in 2006. Our mothers were independent ladies, but when the time came in 2008 that my mom needed daily help, she couldn’t do any of the stairs in our house. A decision had to be made.

Long before she needed one, my mother-in-law visited various senior housing developments. She always liked Franciscan Village in Lemont the best. Mom and I visited the facility, also liked it, did the necessary paperwork, and she moved into the Dependent section. In 2010, Ron’s mom moved into the Independent section.

While the mothers enjoyed being at families’ homes for visits and celebrations, they were also happy having guests. Being a welcoming community, family and friends were constantly in and out of the Village visiting and participating in various activities. It was Come One, Come All for daily mass, holiday and birthday celebrations, musical events, plays, barbecues, crafts, bingo, and horse racing games. The mothers especially enjoyed the Easter Egg Hunts, Trick or Treating, and Christmas parties set up especially for grandchildren and great grandchildren. Captured in treasured photos are smiling faces, young, old, and in-between.

When it came time for the mothers to leave us, the staff at Franciscan Village was sympathetically helpful. I was blessed to be with my mom in 2013 when she passed; Ron was blessed to be with his in 2019. Their services were held in the Village chapel.

These moves to Lemont enriched our lives. Now, as senior citizens, Ron and I wonder When and, once again, Where Shall We Move?