FELIZ CUMPLEAÑO Silver Spring Senior Village!

{Our Silver Spring Senior Village is a year old today. We celebrate! Here’s the formal remarks I will give - with some possible ad-lib, of course!}

Welcome.

Bienvenidos!

And: FELIZ CUMPLEAÑO!

• Happy First Birthday, Silver Spring Senior Village!

You know, you may be a year young now, but I remember when your parents were in courtship a few years back…

I am so humbled and proud to have being there in the beginning!

(And as a trusted good friend of your parents, I have some stories about the courtship that are best not shared in public… It’d make us all blush.)

What an amazing journey this has been… And:

What an amazing place, this Silver Spring is… Isn't?

• Last night Geraldina and I were celebrating the birthday of a dear friend literally just down the street in a nearby neighborhood.  We were about oh, 25 folks or so in the course of the evening.  Whites, blacks, brown, and every hue in between. Young, young at heart, children. Folks from Korea, Ethiopia, Latin America, African Americans, and even some people from Massachusetts!

From Lyttonsville to Long Branch and Langley Park;

From Montgomery Hills to Montgomery College;

From Four Corners to the Corner beer & wine store on Sligo Avenue near my house…:

From Takoma Park to Indian Springs and Woodside...

Silver Spring is the Soul, Salsa, and Spirit of Montgomery County.

And, this Senior Village is the heart of Silver Spring:

• Zip Code 20910 - and vicinity and friends - we welcome all!

(By the way, it is not lost on some that 20910 is one digit transposed from 90210 - Beverly Hills has nothing on us!)

When Geraldina and I talk about the “R” word (retirement) we always end up at the same point: Why go anywhere else? Our house is not new; and yes, the ‘hood is sometimes rough around the edges… But, I can’t think of a more real, welcoming, authentic place to pursue our encore years than the heart of Silver Spring, zip code 20910, right here with the Silver Spring Senior Village.

I mean, where else - within the span of a single week - and this is all based on a true story of this past week alone! - where else can you start the weekend smoking a good cigar at a local cigar shop owned by a Salvadoran; have some locally brewed beer at our new brewery - and stop by to talk to the owner of our future urban winery; have dinner at one of the various iconic restaurants that have been around for decades one day, and the next day have dinner at one of our many Ethiopian restaurants (believe you me - each is a different experience); walk around Saturday morning - even in the rain - and visit with the farmers market on Ellsworth and the craft market on Veterans Plaza; see a quality production of “Ain’t Misbehaving” at our new Black Box Theater; visit with young worshipers at a rock-and-roll church at The Fillmore on a Sunday morning; see movies from Spain and Venezuela at the AFI’s Latin-American Film Festival; share books at a book-swap at Kefa Cafe AND our library!; stroll down Sligo Creek Trail; and enjoy this beautiful afternoon with the good folks of the Silver Spring Senior Village - ALL in zip code 20910!... (And, oh, all the stuff that I still want to do - but that’ll have to wait till next week… By the way, get your ice skates on! See you on the ice rink in the next few days!)

As a proud card-carrying member of this Senior Village I applaud the many - MANY! - folks that have worked so hard to bring it to where it is at… And I also want to applaud all the businesses, partners, and just plaing old good folks that have joined in this journey… And applaud all who are setting the stage for its bright, wonderful, future!

¡FELIZ CUMPLEAÑO SILVER SPRING VILLAGE!