![Leisureville (09) by Blechman, Andrew D [Paperback (2009)]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/21cy6OGEtFL._AC_UL160_SR160,160_.jpg)
Andrew Blechman writes FAR better than the three books that follow, but it always seems that he is writing the book his editor is telling him to write to get good reviews and a lot of attention. I’ll come back to him in a minute.
By all means read Leisureville. I did, and I enjoyed much of it. However, if you are thinking of retiring in The Villages, start with the three that follow. They are very short, and they are self-published by amateurs, but they are much more useful. “Inside the Bubble: An Unauthorized Guide to Florida's Most Popular Community,” by Ryan Erisman, is the best place to start. Buy it from his web-site, and it’s cheap if you buy the electronic version. He explains how The Villages works, especially fees and future growth and the safety of the investment. In short, for an average $250,000 house, allmtaxes and fees and a mortgage, figure about $4,000 a month. Cut that in half if you buy a cheaper house and pay cash, don’t eat out, don’t golf or dont play the big courses, etc., but if you are planning to get by on Social Security, even if you have the highest Social Security, forget it. Go elsewhere. Maybe an older trailer. I then read Lindsay Collier’s book about The Villages. Wow! Simply reading the list of things to do there was so exciting that I wanted to move there right away, even though I prefer living in a cooler climate, in the woods, alone. The chance of friendships and community and things to do are the things that would draw me, and most 55 and older communities are just too small to offer them. However, when I read “The Florida Move Guide,” by Ron Stack, I nearly threw up. Do you want lots of reasons to NOT move to Florida? This book should be required reading for everyone thinking about retiring there.
Back to Blechman. He is responsible for the scurrilous rumor that The Villages has a high rate of STDs, though it was the scandal sheet The Daily Mail in the UK that turned Blechman’s rumors into fact and circulated it world wide. But Blechman reported it without checking the facts. By contrast, Ryan Erisman actually checked the Florida Health Department statistics and found that the counties The Villages are in have extremely LOW STD rates, as one would expect, even if a tiny percentage of the people were having sex. (Why are younger people so disgusted by the idea that people a generation older still have sex? They usually say “Ewww!” or “Too much information.” Blechman also passes on as fact one old swinger’s joke that there are ten women for every man at The Villages. Garbage! Maybe there are ten women wanting sex there for every man able to give it. Maybe there are ten widows for every widower. But most people there are married.
Blechman sometimes does really seem to understand something about aging. At first he didn’t, but then he seemed to catch on. But this understanding is temporary. He goes on a number of times about how choosing to live in a retirement community is age discrimination. He accuses people who go there of not wanting to provide for their grandchildren’s future, of not wanting to be part of America, of hating kids. However, I don’t think he understands, despite his research, what it means to grow old. Forty year olds usually can’t. They may know it intellectually, but the reality doesn’t really kick in until you are there. They do things that are supposed to make them live a hundred years, and exercise, and take herbs and all, but it won’t help. (What helps most is staying out of the sun.) But eventually, skin thins and wrinkles, and age spots show up. Eventually, it’s harder to get hard. Eventually, sex without a lubricant risks injury. Younger people don’t understand what it is like to have joints that hurt now and then, or more. They don’t understand that climbing or descending stairs can hurt. They don’t know what it is like to look in the mirror and not recognize yourself. They don’t know what it is like to look at your friends and see people who look like corpses. They don’t understand how for old people, their children, grandchildren, younger neighbors making an effort to be polite and get the door, or whatever are all discriminating against them. I loved my grandmother and all my life went on vacations to see her, but I always saw her as old, even when she was in her fifties. I never saw her as a real person with real regrets who had a real youth.
And what is with this great love of children? Blechman seems to think that people who would rather read a book than play with grandchildren are unnatural. That doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy them now and then, but face it: raising kids is a lot of work and stress, often with little gratitude. Some of us are crazy about being with family, and some of us weren’t raised that way and aren’t that way. Some people are at odds with their kids. Some of us can take a few hours of it. And, of course, some of them only want a few hours of us.
So, sure, read this. Enjoy it. I did. But does Blechman understand what it is like to grow old? No.
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