The new year has begun and, hopefully, you are having a wonderful time.

What? It is just the same old routine? You eat breakfast, perhaps read the paper, then go to your favorite chair/sofa/recliner and watch TV, hoping a child or grandchild will call to break up the day? Boy, are you missing out on a lot of good things!

This month I want to tell you about four fabulous facilities on our Plateau. These places are bubbling with more activities just for you than you can shake a stick at. What am I talking about? It is your local senior center.

Wait! Don’t tell me. Senior centers are for old people. You are not old – so you certainly are not going to a senior center full of old people.

Well, Sweetie, let me tell you. You are missing out on a whole lot of fun. These “old people” are having a wonderful time and would love to have you join them – the more the merrier.

Beside serving good, locally cooked, nutritious lunches (daily or three days a week), these folks never stay still.

They go on trips everywhere. Some are short trips to a mall for shopping or to the grocery store. Others go further from home – say to Gig Harbor, Leavenworth, Puyallup, Tacoma, Auburn, Seattle or down to the Lucky Eagle Casino for lunch and a day of gaming.

There are even bigger trips. Bonney Lake recently sent a group to Las Vegas. Enumclaw and Buckley are sending folks to Arizona for spring training. Black Diamond took folks to the Skagit Tulip Festival and over to Leavenworth, among other places. These are just a few of their trips.

Some centers offer exercise classes: chair yoga and chair aerobics, pilates classes and Wii bowling sessions along with walking groups. How about a game of pool? Two of our centers have tables – come on down.

Classes? By the dozens. Diabetes education, investing, AARP Driver Safety classes and genealogy, Japanese embroidery, knitting/crochet and woodworking, just to name a few. Some centers even have someone to help you prepare your income taxes.

Health care? You bet. Most of the centers have registered nurses who come monthly to care for your feet. It is wonderful for those who can no longer reach down to clip their toenails. Visit the blood pressure clinic in Bonney Lake and Black Diamond. Get you teeth cleaned by a registered dental hygienist at the Enumclaw center. These are “for fee” programs.

Are you disabled or homebound? Find someone to take you to Black Diamond’s Friday Adult Health Program. You will have a wonderful time and your caregiver will have a few hours to themselves.

There are lots of other things to do, too. Join a Book Club, be a Red Hatter, enjoy lunchtime entertainers, celebrate all the holidays from Valentines Day to National Popcorn Day. You can sing in a Glee Club, get your hair cut by Char or have a massage.

Seniors, it is time to get out and have some fun and make new friends. Senior center staff and volunteers would love to have you join them daily, weekly or whenever and I have not even begun to list all the activities these centers offer.

If you do not drive anymore, three of the centers have vans that will pick you up and take you back home.

Need more information or a schedule? Do you have questions? Just call these centers:

• Buckley – 360-825-0190

• Enumclaw – 360-825-4741

• Bonney Lake – 253-863-7658

• Black Diamond – 360-886-1011

Seniors, step out into a whole new life. I dare you.