"I lived alone in my house and I just couldn't take it anymore. I had a fright one night because I thought I was having a heart attack and I called my son and he said hurry up - he got me one of those buzzers, fast alert or something. I called an ambulance and they came right away, took me to the hospital, but it wasn't a heart attack, thank God. And I got so frightened, I said "that's it, I'm not living alone anymore."
So my daughter said "you know they're building a Bristal in West Babylon." I said "alright, I'll look at it." My daughter came and saw the floor plans, she said "this is going to be great for you." And I took her advice and when it was built, I decided to move in, and I was the first one that arrived here.
It was such an honor to be the first one! I was really overwhelmed with the greetings, what a greeting they gave me when I walked in with my children! And I saw the room for the first time, I never saw my room, and I liked it, I liked it very much.
You're gonna love it here because they are, really, the staff, everybody is just great. They are there to help you - always - they're always there to help you. The programs they have are outstanding. We do so many things here, woodworking, jewelry making, I mean, it's really, they keep you busy all day long so you never have time to do anything else! People tell me: "Why don't you call me?" I say "I don't have time!" I say "I'm in a different program every hour, ya know!" But it's great, I enjoy it so much, and everybody else does, too.
I made so many friends, a lot of nice friends - they're good people. And we're all in the same boat, so, you know, there's no competition or anything. I look forward to each day because I know something else is going to be happening that day for us. It's really enjoyable, it's very good living here. And I enjoy it very much, I like it.
I'm not lonely anymore. It was very, very hard being in my house all by myself, I didn't like it. Who had to shop for me, I couldn't drive anymore, and I said "that's it, that's it, I'm going to live in assisted living." And I don't regret it.
It was a good choice. I made the right choice, the right decision."
