Inside this special Summer Edition:

• We meet the charming Jessica Meyers, one of the park’s newest residents, and there’s
• News on the upcoming Activities season, including the TICKET ORDER FORM with a message from Activities Director, Lu Way

The People of the Park…

Jessica Meyers

By Dale Dauten

“Hard is trying to rebuild yourself, piece by piece, with no instruction book,

and no clue as to where all the important bits are supposed to go.”

Nick Hornby

Jessica Meyers decided to make a big change. She remembers where she was when she made up her mind to become healthier: “I was standing in front of my closet. Like most women, I had several sizes in my closet — there’s the ‘skinny,’ ‘not so skinny’ and ‘largest’ sizes — and I realized that I was only wearing the largest ones.” So, admitting to herself that she was out of shape and overweight, she joined a gym and found a trainer. It was there, noticing the women bodybuilders, she decided on her new goal for how she was going to rebuild herself. While it meant “living at the gym,” it worked: she became one of the “natural” bodybuilders. By her account, she was “9-12 weeks out from competition” and presenting her new self to the world.

Then came the motorcycle accident.

The accident, as recounted by Jessica: “I had a life or death choice while riding my motorcycle and I chose life. While I slid the bike to avoid collision, I had enough damage to my back/hip/knee that I could never again lift serious weight.” No more bodybuilding? She could take that as an excuse to revert back to her old lifestyle, or she could evolve and rebuild herself one more time. That’s when she found yoga. With its pain relief and muscle strengthening, she found her passion.

And that’s where we first encountered Jessica, teaching chair yoga at Silveridge. And despite it being mid-summer, when most residents have fled North, a lively group assembled in the ballroom for her class. “Deep inhale through the nose, and exhale through the nose,” she directed.

Jessica undoubtedly learned plenty about bouncing back from adversity via her parents, Silveridge residents Cassie and Gregg Meyers. In fact, her mom was there in her yoga group.

As for bouncing back, her folks had owned a steel company back when Jessica was coming of age, in the nineties. Cassie had been CEO. (Jessica says in an aside, “She wore fabulous suits. I used to sneak in to her closet and steal them to wear to school.”) Gregg was COO. However, that was a terrible time to be in the steel business: it was in the 1990s that Asian nations, particularly China, decided to make enormous government investments in steel production, ultimately taking over the majority of the world’s steel production. The Meyers’ steel company wasn’t spared, but, Jessica explained, her folks’ entrepreneurial spirit showed through: “My dad designed an electric vehicle meant for places with vacation resorts. They’d been using 2-seater versions to rent to people, but those weren’t big enough for a whole family. So he designed one with room for the kids. So they shifted gears and went into the electric vehicle business, not only retaining their staff but keeping a small business running in Oklahoma.”

Late last year, Jessica came from her home in Oklahoma to visit her folks at Silveridge. It was during her visit that her dad got Covid, then her mom, and then Jessica. That experience, especially watching her parents deal with illness, made her realize that she wanted to live closer: “Watching that, I realized that we needed to find me a place to live nearby. I started looking at condos and apartments. Then, the place right next door to my parents came up for sale. It felt almost divinely driven. So naturally, I bought it, went home, packed up, and moved in May 1^st.” And so Silveridge added one of its newest residents.

THE ONLY GIRL ON THE TEAM

But let’s back up and fill in some background on Jessica’s life and career before coming to Silveridge.

She grew up in Enid, Oklahoma – that’s where the steel company was located – with two older brothers and a younger half-brother.

And while she didn’t gravitate to a career in manufacturing, she was fascinated by the work of one of her older brothers, Ryan, who worked in IT support. She described “shoulder surfing and tagging along” with him and that interest stuck: she studied Management of Information Systems at Oklahoma State. She realized she didn’t want be a coder — “I got so tired of coding, so done with programming” – but loved the rest of IT. Indeed, after college she became a Network Administrator for the District Attorney Council, handling the computer systems for nearly all the counties in Oklahoma. She says of her work, “I was running cable and deploying new software, and doing some software configuration with data mapping.”

And she also joined the Air National Guard, starting in CommOPs, but her talents were soon spotted and Jessica and her boss were chosen to direct the cybersecurity effort.

We asked Jessica if there were many females in roles like hers in IT or in the Guard and she laughed, saying, “I was usually the only girl on the team. But I’ve always liked doing the unheard of, going big just to see if I can do it. Plus, I grew up with three brothers. Naturally I became one of the guys.”

And she’d also gone back to OSU, earning an MBA, which led her to a job in Plano, Texas. But her old work and her old boss came calling her back and she was hired into a fulltime position with the National Guard, specializing in cybersecurity.

Later, she moved on to cybersecurity roles in the private sector, working for companies in the oil and gas business, hospital, energy and with utilities. It was during those times in corporate life that she had her realization we first talked about, with her standing in front of her closet deciding she needed to make a change. That led to the gym and the motorcycle, and eventually to Silveridge.

BEST ADVICE

We asked Jessica our favorite question, the one about the best advice she’d ever gotten and she passed along the wisdom from her parents: ‘Take care of yourself and your things, the rest will build on that.’ That’s when you make mistakes allowing external influences to alter your life and goals. And along with that I always remind myself that the answers in life aren’t external: they come from within. And that that’s where God is, within us.”

[Photo: Jessica with parents Cassie and Gregg]

AN INVITATION

While Jessica is still doing Cybersecurity work remotely, she’s nonetheless busy reimagining herself. She now is evolving into a career of personal training, already working with some Silveridge residents.

Her commitment to yoga started with “trying to get pain relief after the accident,” but it became much more — she came to love the benefits of yoga and invites everyone at Silveridge to try her chair yoga class. “I know there are people who think they aren’t flexible enough to do yoga, but I have so many ways to help people start on their yoga journey. I love to help those who got sidelined or have stopped doing what they used to do. That happened a lot because of Covid – people stopped going out and now they’re not sure they’re up to doing what they used to do.” As Jessica puts it, “Yoga is for every body. But not every pose is for everyone.”

The class is free and meets in the ballroom (Tue/Thur/Sat 8:30-9:30am summer), and having visited, we can report that it’s a lively, upbeat and welcoming group (she even has a headset and speaker to assist with hearing issues).

 TICKET ORDER FORM

FOR THE UPCOMING SEASON IS HERE!

First, a word from activities director, Lu Way

It is hard to believe that August is almost here! While Ed and I have been traveling this summer, our incredible Maintenance team has been busy making improvements to the park. (Wait until you see the beautiful area by the pickleball courts!) It is always important to spend time with family and dear friends before we head West. I hope that your summer has been filled with wonderful memories spent with family and friends too. I have enjoyed seeing your photos on Facebook.

[Here are a couple of photos from Lu’s travels this summer. The first is at Quincy, Illinois’ Germanfest, with Lu between husband Ed on her right and an old friend, Chuck Smith, on her left. In the bottom photo, Lu and Ed are with grandson Matthias and granddaughter Dorothy at their high school graduation in O’Fallon, Illinois.]

THE TICKET ORDER FORM

In case you have not heard, our dear Sharon Beatty has resigned her position as assistant activity director. Sharon has been such an important part of our team. We thank her for her hard work and dedication to Silveridge over the years. She will be missed. We wish her much success and happiness in her new position.

I know many of you have been anxiously awaiting to receive the 2022-2023 Ticket Order form. We have continued to split the ticket orders into two forms. The first is for October through December. The second half of the year, January through March, will be released in December. I had worked with Sue and Sharon to fill our schedule with dances, dinners, and concerts. I am excited about some new activities like the Dive In movies and Food Truck night along with some returning activities like Market Days and the Christmas parade. I hope you will enjoy all the entertainment and activities along with the great food that Jerry, Tracy, and the kitchen volunteers prepare just for you. We have been in contact this summer coordinating all the fun.

You will notice we have had to slightly increase our ticket prices this year. The cost of food continues to rise at an alarming rate. We have tried to keep the increase to the bare minimum. We recognize most people are living on a fixed retirement income. Please fill out one ticket order list individually (or as a couple). You may send in a group of ticket order forms together if you want to be seated together. Make sure to include your name, phone, lot # table preference and “seated with” if you want to sit with a group. We will try our best to accommodate your choices—or at least have you in the same area. Please enclose a check for the amount owed made out to Silveridge Activities. Ticket order requests will be processed in the order that they are received. You may mail orders in early, so they have arrived by October 3^rd. No orders will be opened until October 3^rd. (You can also buy tickets when you return to the resort. Just remember, some events may sell out quickly.) Hopefully, when we return to the resort the end of September, we will be able to start using credit and debit cards for ticket orders, but we are not ready yet.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. I still have so much to learn.

Your Activity Director,

Lu Way

sractdr@iiiaz.com