Video Transcript

I will say the most important thing was when she lived with me, I felt like I was doing her a disservice. It was her and I, one on one, and there is something to be said about being around people your own age. This has given her a second lease on life. I could see her living to be 94. I could totally see her living here for 10 more years. I hope she does.

At Sonata, I feel that she’s got somebody around her at all times so I don’t have the fear that I had when she was living in New York.

The staff here say every morning, let’s get up, let’s get dressed, well, she’s not going to say no to that, it’s kind of not an option, and she knows by getting up so early, getting dressed and going down to the dining room that she’s going to be with her friends. It’s something that when she lived with us, because my boys were older, my husband worked, it was just me, and I just realized she needed to be around other people, especially her own age.

The activities here, she’s very involved, she’s an avid movie watcher, they have a theater here. Every Tuesday and Thursday she goes down and the best thing I can say is she has a better life now than she did 10 years ago and I mean that from my heart.

I really believe that what she enjoys the most is the interaction with other people her age. There’s always something scheduled on a calendar. She would spend her whole day in the arts and crafts room. She loves that. She’s made some good friends. I think (she’s much better off) just being around people her age and interacting activities, which she did not have up there.

I want the best for her and I feel like she does get the best here at Sonata. They provide her things I couldn’t.

She lost kind of that zest for a living, and by here, just being around people, three beautiful meals a day, you know when you’re elderly like that living alone, she would forget to eat, you know, and so I do think between the nourishment, the companionship, is everything. They still need that you know be around people and I feel this was such a blessing moving her here.

I think she’s more fulfilled than she was there. Here, she can go out with her walker and do a lap around the building with other people. She talks about the After Dinner group. The After Dinner group goes outside to the front where, since Covid, they added benches so they can separate themselves, but be together, and she loves that group. There’s always something for her to do. Always something. If it’s not on the calendar, they’ll find out about it when they come down.

Each day is different, really, and I think that’s what she loves. I call her multiple times throughout the day, and I’ll say, Mom, how’s your day? Oh, I have a great day every day. I think by living here at Sonata, it brought out her old self of just very outgoing, fun-loving. And when she lived in Michigan, for 10 years alone, it was almost becoming like a prison.

She loves the fact she has her own apartment. I think when she lived with me, she was living in my house, and here at Sonata, she’ll call and talk to family and say, “Well, in my apartment…” so it gives her independence, and I think that just means the world to her.

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