62 and Attending my First Ever Book Club

Par Carol Lemen, Placement Student

I attended my first ever book club last night at the age of 62 hosted by Family Council Ontario where they are reading Happily Ever Older by Moira Welsh. I realized after I signed up that I had missed the first five chapters of the book. Feeling uneasy about joining half way through and worried I would be confused about what was going on in the book I was pleasantly surprised to find that this was not the case. I quickly realized that each chapter in the book seems to stand on its own and tells its own story.

Each month the group meets to discuss one chapter. The book club is led by Cathleen Edwards, the Education Manager and Liane Pelissier, the Client Services Manager at Family Council Ontario who pull together a list of questions for the group in advance about the chapter we will be reading.

Cathleen and Liane are so welcoming with engaging smiles and a non judgmental attitude. This week there seemed to be about 10 people online who all shared their impressions about the chapter 7.

This week’s chapter 7 was about Sherbrook Community Centre and the Eden Alternative. The Sherbrook Community is a community that is based on the Eden alternative which was created by Dr. Bill Thomas. Chapter 7 in Happily Ever After explores the Eden alternative and what that looks like for long term care homes. Welsh writes about how the Eden alternative is a model that cares about the human spirit.

If you haven’t read the book yet or are hesitant about joining the book club because you missed the beginning I can tell you first hand that you can still join and you won’t feel behind.

The book club next meeting on zoom is on November 14 at 6:30 where we will be reading chapter 8. You can find out more information on the Family Council Ontario website at fco.ngo/events and then click on book club.

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