Aging America staying put

My sisters and I were saddened when my parents sold the old house.

It was a two-story, four-bedroom design that was typical of 1960s suburbia — a house designed to raise children. The bottom half of the exterior was brick; the top half, white aluminum siding. Inside, the rooms were efficient and comfortable. Eventually, my father remodeled the basement into a family room.

For so many years, that house was the hub of a lot of people’s lives. The door was never locked and aunts, uncles, friends and neighbors stopped by for visits. My mother always wanted to host holiday celebrations, especially Thanksgiving, and on such occasions the house was filled to the brim with people.