@harllee, glad to hear you're thriving in your new retirement living place!
On your Mom, is she in AL or IL at this point (you might have said but I don't track those details well)?
My 87yo Dad moved from AL to IL this spring, and while it was a somewhat rough transition, he is physically and medically better off because he's being taken care of how he needs to be. We resisted the move for a while and in retrospect it might have been somewhat better had he moved proactively rather than after a medium-sized medical crisis that landed him in the ER then hospital for a week and PT/OT rehab for two weeks.
Also, from a financial point of view, I plan to deduct all of his rent and care fees on his taxes now that he is in AL, so on a net basis, it's actually cheaper for him to live in AL. Go figure.