Many people grow more isolated as they age—friends and partners pass away, family members and kids get distracted by their own lives. To many of us, nursing homes are a place where we too might end up—they’re a bit of mystery that we visit from time to time, a world apart. We traveled to Presbyterian Homes, a senior living community in Evanston, Illinois and gave a group of residents tape recorders and kept audio diaries of their lives in retirement.