Most days, Julia’s world is limited to the square footage of her one-bedroom apartment on Manhattan’s far East Side. She uses her walker to get from the living room to the kitchen. For longer distances, she needs an electric wheelchair. “I go outside,” she says, “but what can you do in winter?” At 75 years old, she feels the cold a lot more than she did when she was younger. But even on warmer days, she can’t leave without the assistance of her home health aide. 

The aide helps with daily chores and takes Julia where she needs to go, like her many doctor appointments, which Julia keeps organized in a small, spiral-bound notebook. This afternoon, they’re going to the grocery store. “I need half and half, bread and orange juice.”

A stroke forced Julia into early retirement. As someone who had worked her whole life, the transition was jarring. “I used to like to work,” she says. “I miss it.” 

The daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants, Julia was brought up in what they called “el barrio.” She raised her own children not too far from where she lives now. But after her stroke, Julia found herself on shaky ground. She had problems with her memory and fine motor skills. “After I stopped working, I couldn’t pay my rent,” she says. She had to move in with her elderly mother, who had just been diagnosed with cancer. While she was still recovering, Julia acted as her caregiver. It was a difficult time. 

Though her mother has since died and her children have moved out of the city, Julia couldn’t imagine leaving New York. She doesn’t want to live anywhere else. Not only is it her home — where she’s lived her whole life — it’s where the programs she relies on are, programs like Citymeals on Wheels. 

Sometimes, it’s hard to go shopping.

Julia has been receiving home-delivered meals for over a decade. “My favorite things they bring for me is spaghetti with meatballs, chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans and fish,” she says. She’s grateful for the food — not just on her own behalf, but for all the older New Yorkers Citymeals serves. “Sometimes, it’s hard for us to go shopping,” she says. “Citymeals on Wheels, it helps us a lot because of the inflation we’ve got now. I think it’s a lot of help for a lot of people.” 

Though it’s too much for her to cook every day, Julia still does so on special occasions, like when one of her children comes to visit. Usually, it’s something that doesn’t require her to stand at the stove, like oven-roasted pork, one of her specialties. “I cook when my daughter comes because she’s so used to me cooking for her. She still thinks she’s a baby,” Julia says with a chuckle. “My kids — God bless them — they’re still my babies.”