“Mom has been a Seacrest resident for over a decade. Each December, our family convenes at Seacrest for a Shabbat dinner to celebrate our mom, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Mom suggested that my husband and I spend our two months in California in a guest apartment at Seacrest. As a daughter, the biggest advantage was proximity to Mom.

Crash. Within five days of our arrival, the world changed for me as I tripped and shattered my kneecap. Moments later, I was in an ambulance bound for Scripps. After surgery and a day in the hospital, I was discharged wearing an immobilizer to keep my knee straight and with a walker to help me ambulate. I was no longer the daughter who came to take care of my mother. Our roles had switched.

Readers of Happenings Newsletter shouldn’t be surprised by my discoveries as a disabled older adult in Seacrest’s Independent Living. Every single staff member has shown the utmost kindness and concern. Seacrest is set up so that even with one leg immobilized, I can get from place to place.

Best of all has been the connection to residents. They have rallied around me with offers of help (everyone seems to have an extra walker) and words of encouragement. Most of all, I have been buoyed by the stories shared with me. So many people have recounted their own harrowing stories or amusing anecdotes, their philosophies on life. So many have taken the time to connect with me.

In Judaism we say each person is עולם ומלואו, a world and its fullness.  Thank you to all the Seacrest staff and residents who took the time to share their world with me and hasten my healing.”

Meryll Levine Page