For seven years, my husband and I lived in a mobile home park.  Now mind you, these parks are for retired people.  But we retired young.  My husband a retired firefight of 31 years and I retired from an administrative position for a municipality.  We were both young when we retired, I wasn't 50 yet and my hubby was just over 50.  Parks usually have a 20/80 rule.  Eighty percent of the residence over 55 and the 20 percent for those just reaching 55, sometimes even younger.

Now, mind you, we (my husband and I) do not have anything against the elderly, we are going to be there someday.  But if you are aware of the old saying, "Old people don't like change."?  Well that is so true, it's not even funny.

If you have lived in a 55+ park, you understand what I'm saying.  If you haven't, do your homework.   It's so easy to just pick an area and assume a lot of things, DON'T.  Read the perspectus and do your research! Ask around and get information about the different parks.  Be aware there are two types of parks, rental and resident owned.  In both instances, you own the mobile home (if you buy it vs renting).  With resident owned, you own the mobile home and a share.  This means whenever major changes are being made, i.e. selling the park, the people who own shares are able to vote on the issues. Non-resident owned parks you own the mobile home.  You can move it out of there if you like, but you rent the space it sits on.  There are more differences.  I strongly suggest you do your research to see which type of park would best fit your needs.  Do a lot of research on the park itself.

We encountered a lot of different personalities while living there.  What we saw was funny, the stories are funny.  This book is not written to hurt anyone or disrespect anyone and no real names are used.  We thought it would be a good idea to share what we lived, just so the next generation of baby boomers will be a little more educated on how these places work.

Firstly, do yourself a favor, save money and aggravation.  When you plan on moving to Florida, or another retirement state, SELL EVERYTHING.  We learned this the hard way.  If we could have done it differently, we would have kept the things that meant something to us, but furniture, dishes, etc. we would have sold everything.  Everyone is selling things down here and you can get "good stuff cheap"!

We left CT and landed in FL 27 hours later.  Extremely tired, we off loaded our belongings, got rid of our rental truck and went to our "new" home to start our new adventure and life together.  Little did we know we were in for quite a ride.

We got the important rooms done first.  Bed, Bath, TV.  It took us about 2 weeks to unpack, but we had the time and we wanted to take our time.  Some days we didn't do anything, just went to the beach!  It was great!  The weather was great, we were retired, and we didn't have to answer to anyone!  Or so we thought.

In January, is usually when the weather turns "cold".  This means the temperatures drop to about the 60's and 70's.  So we were outside doing plantings and cleaning up our area.  We wore shorts and t-shirt, it was great!  Then this woman walked by with ear muffs, mittens, coat, slacks, hat, you know, winter clothing on.  She says' "You must be from New England." I chuckled and said, "How can you tell?"  She said, " You are wearing shorts and a t-shirt and you have a Patriots shirt on."  We both had a chuckle.  We introduced ourselves and then she made a comment that stayed with me the rest of our stay there.  "Good Luck!".

Little did I know that would come in handy later!

The park held a weekly coffee clutch.  This is were residents met for coffee and pastry/donuts.  Our park had it every Wednesday morning.  We started attending this event weekly so that we could meet the other residents and get acquainted.  Usually, people volunteered to set up the coffee and do the preparations for this morning event.  People would gather and we would recognize birthdays, anniversaries, announce up coming events, etc.

We decided to volunteer to do the preparations.  Our first shot at doing this.  Well let me tell you!!  We went to the clubhouse on Tuesday evening to get the large  urns of coffee prepared, so all we had to do is turn them on the next morning.  One of the residents decided to go to the clubhouse and make sure we did it "right".  We proceeded to bring out the stirrers, creamer sugar, etc.  

When we brought the napkins out, I twisted them.  Anyone who has tended bar knows what I'm talking about. You put the tack of napkins in front of you, take a glass and place it horizontally on top of the napkins and twist!  The napkins will create a spiral look and it will be easier for the bartender and the clients to take a napkin.  Well, Edna (as we will call her) announced to me, "That's not the way you do it." I was confused, "What?". I said.  "You don't put the napkins out that way."  I'm speechless, my head was saying "Really!? They are fucking napkins!"  So I said the first think that came to mind, "Well it won't change the taste of the coffee nor the taste of the pastry, it will be fine."

All three of us finish the "set up" of the coffee and leave.  The next morning we got up and walked to the clubhouse to plug the coffee in.  What I saw was unbelievable, Edna has returned to the clubhouse later that night and folded the napkins the "right" way!  Really!?  Needless to say, I told the person that I was no longer interested in doing the coffee.