Hugh & Sharon Downing; John Olesky & Paula Stone Tucker

A place that’s too good to be true . . . but is!

Living in The Villages, Florida is like Disneyland for senior citizens. Something to do morning, afternoon and evening. You have to limit yourself to three fun things a day.

Hugh with Buckeye fans from Lancaster

Maybe that’s why, even though Paula and I have been here two weeks, we haven’t run into one grouchy person yet. They’re too busy enjoying life for that.

Retired BJ printer Hugh Downing and wife Sharon have been home owners there since 2001, when Hugh retired from Ol’ Blue.

Tuesday night, for example, there was dinner in a Mexican restaurant and then a night of dancing and free music on Spanish Springs Square, one of three town squares in a village of 100,000 residents. That goes on every night of the year at all three village town squares.

Hugh and John took a stroll around the perimeter of the gazebo and dancing patio (you could still hear the music) to check out the renovation of a new theater for stage productions and concerts. 

They ran into a pair of happy Ohio State fans (ALL Buckeye fans are happy about winning the national championship in a rout with a third-string quarterback) from Lancaster, Ohio. And chatted.

That’s what people do in The Villages. They wave at everyone passing by when they drive one of the 50,000 golf carts along the street. They talk to strangers in the town squares as if they are old friends.

And they have found a place to enjoy whatever is left of their life span. A lot.

I’ve never seen a place like The Villages in my life, and I’ve been to 52 countries and 43 states. My only regret is that it took me 82 years to find it.