Living in a condominium is the life for me. I never was a house person. When the children were young, having a house made sense. If there were children in my condo now, I would go nuts, if we did not all kill one another first. Kids need room to play both indoors and outdoors. There is not enough room to play indoors in my condo.

Outdoors is another story. There really isn't a play area here. Mostly seniors live in this condo complex, and they don't want to hear screaming children. You could count the pool as a play area, but it can only be used for three months a year.

Not having a lot of room inside the condo is a plus as far as I am concerned. There is less space to clean, although I can still avoid cleaning whenever possible. There are fewer places to lose things, and face it, when you grow older you misplace items so more ofter than you did when you were younger.

Not all condos are on one floor, but mine is. Stair climbing is eliminated. However, there is one elevator, one elevator I stress, because there are times it does not work and I am on the fifth floor. Climbing four flights of stairs is great exercise - NOT!. Next year the elevator will be replaced in my building, so I will be stair climbing for at least two weeks.

Yes, there are drawbacks. The elevator for one. But there are so many advantages especially for those growing older.

Maintenance is taken care of in a monthly fee. No water heater to burst and replace. My heat and water bills are included.

There is a feeling of safety and security. Entrances are locked and there are security cameras. I've lived here over 20 years and have not heard of one robbery. Twice in all that time there have been break-ins to cars parked overnight. That's the extent of criminal activity.

But the greatest plus to condo living for me is the yard work. This might not be a plus for some people who love to garden, but I never had a green thumb. I always blamed children playing in the yard for my lack of ability to grow a beautiful lawn. That was a neat alibi. The truth is that I cannot grow grass anywhere. Nor do I enjoy planting flowers and vegetables. Don't get me wrong, I love to look at flowers and love homemade veggies, as long as someone else does the planting and growing, I am thrilled. If you are one of those people, I thank you and give you my undying gratitude.

To me, condo living is the almost perfect life. Possibly it is something for you to consider as you grow older. However, we really should not consider getting older, just getting better.