November 4, 2022 —Vic and Pamela Crane moved into their cottage on Sunrise Ridge Circle in December 2021, after a visit to Kendal at Lexington that exceeded their expectations.
“When we came for the visit, we experienced a sense of community fairly quickly,” says Vic. “When we went for a walk, everybody knew about us and wanted to stop and talk.”
Pamela says they decided to look at CCRCs after she had a hip replacement. “Afterward, I was overwhelmed by all the things that had to be done by one person,” Pam says. “Yard, house, pets, etc.”
The Cranes moved to Kendal at Lexington from Las Cruces, New Mexico. They knew Kendal had a good reputation, but the first Kendal Community they called (not KaLex) had an 8-year waiting list – and some, they felt, were too near big cities. They scheduled an appointment with Kendal at Lexington – and the day they came, the cottage they wound up moving into was vacant and available to be reserved.
Vic and Pamela like the pet-friendly Kendal at Lexington campus!
Mornings:
“The dogs get us up,” says Vic. “One of them gets us up fairly early. The rest of the day, we’re walking the dogs; we’re walking them separately.”
Pamela says, “For me, that’s like my hike and exercise. And sometimes, when it was a little cooler, I’d go up to Brushy Hills and hike up there with a dog. Generally, I was doing somewhere between a 4-to-5-mile hike with the dog at least five mornings a week.”
Afternoons:
After lunch, Pamela enjoys taking a nap or, some days, playing bridge. “Vic has meetings,” she says, laughing.
Vic: “I’m on 5 or 6 committees or something, so I got involved fairly quickly with that.”
Pam: “The thing I didn’t know about this place when we came is how involved the residents are in the decision-making – such as our involvement in the landscaping of Sunrise Ridge. A few residents came around and told me what trees they planned to put in. I happened to mention my love of lilacs, and sure enough, a lilac showed up in my backyard.”
Evenings:
“Evenings are typically a light supper, and then we’ll walk the dogs,” says Vic. “Depending on who’s out on their front porch, it can go from being a 15-minute walk to an hour-and-a-half walk.”
Vic: “You wind up sitting and talking with people for a while, which is really nice.”
Biggest surprise?
“The meals surprised me,” said Vic. “The fact that we would spend an hour-and-a-half to two hours at meals and actually look forward to it. Our first meal here, we’re sitting at a table for two, and Ted Burrowes (a Kendal resident) comes by and says, ‘You’re not supposed to do that. Go sit with somebody.’ So, you just walk up to another table and say, ‘Can we join you?’ And they let you in. That, to me is one of the pleasant surprises.”
Vic rounded up other dog owners on campus and devised a plan to build a dog park this summer.
Pam: “The way Kendal is organized, with the residents taking the initiative in many areas, Vic was able to get a group together – and the group moved the dog park forward. If they see something they really want to happen here, groups with common interests can generally make it happen.”