For Larry and Jenny, the decision to move into The Sterling, Kaiapoi was a lightbulb moment.
“We were visiting friends in the North Island who had just moved into a retirement village,” explains Jenny. “While we were there we noticed that all of their friends said, ‘We left it too long; we wished we’d moved in here sooner’. It was a real lightbulb moment for us. So many people our age think ‘We’re too young for that’, but that’s just not true.”
Both in their early seventies, Larry and Jenny are bursting with life and could have carried on in their family home for many years. But when they made a pros and cons list of moving into The Sterling Retirement Village, one column sat almost empty.
“It was a no-brainer,” says Jenny.
Nestled in their homely living room in their new villa at The Sterling, Kaiapoi, they effuse about life here, tripping over each other to list all the activities they love to do and all the people they’ve met.
“I get up in the morning and my smile just gets bigger every day,” says Larry. “We’ve worked hard all our lives. Now it’s our time to enjoy life.”
And enjoy it they are! Between happy hours, table tennis, singing, group outings, croquet lessons and plans to join in pétanque, the pair barely have time to get away to visit family or partake in their true passion of competitive outdoor bowls.
“I need to book a holiday just to get a break from our schedule!” laughs Larry, who is joviality personified.
“The team here just work like Trojans. Nothing is too much trouble. They put on so many great activities and get-togethers,” says Jenny. “We’ve made lots of firm friends already.”
Larry does have one complaint: “There are too many nibbly times,” he chuckles. “I’m meant to be trying to lose weight!”
During that North Island visit with their friends, Larry and Jenny jumped online and looked at The Sterling, Kaiapoi’s website and booked a visit with the sales team.
“The minute we walked in, we were sold,” says Jenny. “We couldn’t believe it. We didn’t need to look at anything else. This was just perfect in every way.”
When it came time to move and say goodbye to their large home and garden, the couple admit it was easier than they’d imagined.
“If we’d stayed where we were we would have been slaving away on the house and the property for years, keeping it up, painting it, gardening, and being a burden on our kids by asking for their help all the time. But instead, we’re using our time to enjoy ourselves. Life has become so easy since we moved in here.”
“I always think of life as being like a 100-step ladder,” explains Jenny. ”We’re already on rung 70. You’ve got to make the most of that precious time that’s left.
“This is our chance in life to do what we want.”
If, like Jenny and Larry, you like the sound of social, active retirement living, give our friendly sales team a no-obligation call today on 0508 783 754 or explore thesterling.co.nz to discover everything we have to offer.
