At Sonata Senior Living, we’ve spent a great deal of time serving and caring for people in their so-called Golden Years. What is it about seniors we love so much, we asked ourselves? After a lifetime of giving, what do our elders have to offer us and what common ground do we share?

Although everyone may answer that question in their own way, we’d like to suggest a few things our experience has taught us over the years.

Seniors Are Our Link To The Way We Were

Ever wonder what it was really like, growing up way back when? When the country was in the throes of World War II? When a man named Elvis was taking the country by storm? When the civil rights era was in its infancy, or when the country was mesmerized by the space race or the ‘70s women’s movement? Or simply what it was like to grow up in a time very different from our own?

The lives of seniors are living history. But instead of getting the history book version, seniors will give you a firsthand account of how events actually impacted them, and what it felt like as our country’s story unfolded. Listening to seniors’ stories is both fascinating and enjoyable, a gift for both storyteller and listener.

Seniors Have Learned To Laugh About Life

Research has proven that older adults enjoy humor more than younger people. Seniors are just as likely as the grandchildren to surprise with a snappy sense of humor, a tongue-in-cheek sarcasm, a dusty joke or a moment of silliness in a world that takes itself seriously.

It may be that this surprising senior humor is the product of simply having faced many of life’s struggles and prevailed. Whatever the cause, it is our experience that seniors have an uncanny way of helping us laugh out loud, even when we’re feeling stress in our lives.

Seniors Love To Share Their Interests.

Again, defying the stereotypes, being senior isn’t all bingo. Give a senior a chance and he or she will share what interests them. At Sonata, we have been blessed with being able to discover senior interests in art, literature and music, as well as passions as diverse as birding, genealogy and miniatures.

Giving a senior time to share their interests is more than an invitation to broaden our empathy. It’s a genuine chance to learn something about a facet of life that otherwise might have evaded us. Learning the interests of seniors can make us more interesting.

Seniors Reaffirm The Importance Of Family

If you are looking for a way to connect with seniors, few avenues get you to the heart like relating on the basis of family. Of course, seniors love sharing stories and photos about their children and grandchildren.

This not only presents us with a chance to connect on a deeper emotional level, but it also yields an opportunity to share our own family stories. We may find that these moments help us recover memories of our own grandparents or keep fresh the memories of our own family members.

Seniors Love Connecting

Our lives demand attention. There is no substitute for being fully present when we’re engaging with someone, even on a casual basis.

At Sonata, our residents give us a valuable opportunity to step outside the swirl of our own lives and find real meaning in real people, and that the rewards of doing so greatly exceed the effort we put forth.

To discover for yourself the unexpected rewards and joys of today’s seniors – and today’s senior living – Sonata invites you to visit any of our communities and learn about the benefits of senior living. If you have a loved one who may be ready for the connections that a community of the like-minded offer, we’re here to help.