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My 99-year-old mother sits in her black leather recliner all day at an assisted living facility in South Jersey. Her aides, trying to keep her engaged in life, encourage her to attend armchair exercise sessions and other activities, but she steadfastly refuses. To partake in them, she would have to do something abhorrent: associate with the other residents.
“I don’t want anything to do with them,” she says. “They’re not my type. They’re a bunch of old hags. Not one of them has anything to say.”
“But you’ll get lonely if you stay in your room all day long,” the aide insists.