Anderson, Dan

Good Religion (Christmas 2008)

I had a good experience in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. My wife, Michelle, our daughter, Rachel (21 months old), and I went there to visit my grandma, Thora, who is young for her 92 years. Last year Thora moved into a retirement community in “Fergus,” as she and other locals call it. She lives in an apartment in the portion of the facility inhabited by seniors who are in pretty good shape and can mostly, or entirely, take care of themselves. Thora has lived in the area for 28 years and it seemed she easily knew half the people in town already and had no trouble fitting in. A couple of times during our visit she expressed frustration about not being able to remember the name of someone we ran into. We told her “It’s alright, people understand that gets harder when you’re 92.”