Traveling Solo: Weekend Retreat in Watkinsville, Georgia

On this Sunday night in Watkinsville, Georgia, I am sitting on the porch of an old wooden house called Fanny's House, my home of the week five miles from Carlene's apartment at Presbyterian Village. Behind the house is what was Fanny's only bathroom, a red outhouse that's settling into the ground.

The owners (my landlords for the week) live next door in a beautiful house--and Brian is the mayor of Watkinsville.

After Fanny's death, this house was used mostly for storage, but Brian and his wife have turned it into a short-term rental that's just wonderful! Now that I've found my home-away-from-home, this is where I'll be staying from now on.

Fanny, known by all the townspeople, was always rocking on her porch when she wasn't working as help for the family who lived where Brian and his family's house now stands.

The house was wallpapered in cardboard and newspaper and there were only three pictures on her wall: pictures of Martin Luther King, Jack Kennedy, and Jesus.

It's a beautifully landscaped house now with all kinds of Georgia flowers growing in the yard. If this house were for sale and I were in the market, I would buy it and move in permanently. Every detail--from headboard to chandelier (made of old Coke and Dr. Pepper bottles) to the coffee table is made from wood salvaged when the "big house" was demolished.

It has a large bathroom with a modern shower and an antique bathtub--and bathtubs are hard to find in Air BnB houses. What is now the kitchen was Fanny's bedroom and the current bedroom was her kitchen.

I haven't cooked anything because Carlene and I are spending our days playing.. Yesterday we went to Madison, one of our favorite little Georgia towns and had pizza at Amici's.

Madison sidewalks are bumpy bricks, and can be a tad difficult to navigate with Carlene's rollator, but we managed quite well. We went into a few shops, no problem, but the curb across from Amici's was a bit tricky. We would have made it without help--sure we would!--but our technique might have looked a little iffy to a young couple who approached us and asked if we needed help.

Turns out, they are in the senior living business and a friends with the CEO at Presbyterian Village.

This is my favorite part of meeting people with her: She loves to insert into the conversation that she's a hundred! And I knowingly smile thinking, "Here we go again."

"No-o-o-o!" they all say. "No way! You look like you might be 80 tops!"--or something to that effect.

Of course, Carlene knows the CEO and probably everybody else working at Presbyterian Village--not aligning perhaps with the couple's expectations of a centenarian. "You're sharp as a tack!" Crystal said to her.

To which Carlene retorted: "Not the kind you could sit on!

Here she is with Jackie, one of the staff members in the dining room, who told me, "We just love your mama!"

Of course they do. She knows the name of every one of them--as well as the residents on her floor and the many she's befriended who live in independent living houses. She knows about their families and life experiences. She asks them questions and remembers what they tell her.

This is kind of rare if you think about it. How often do you meet people who love to tell you about themselves but never ask a single question about you? Being genuinely interested in other people is one of Carlene's top super powers!

As we were leaving for a ride-around this afternoon, we stopped to chat with the women at the front desk as Carlene always does. One of them, a security guard, was putting the finishing touches on a strawberry lap quilt she's making for her 22-year-old daughter.