Thanks so much for your response! Your suggestions and how you live your life are incredibly helpful. I definitely realize how fortunate I am to be in good health at my age (80) and to have wonderful relationships with my family. What has been by far the most challenging has been losing a grandson, son-in-law, and daughter -- all within the past 7 months. I'm fully aware that I'm still in the "disbelief" and grief stage, but no matter what it's been incredibly difficult. I'm now trying to find either a grief counselor or hospice group that will be a good fit for me.

I love this sentiment and did a screenshot to send to others not on this forum.

When my mom was nearing the end of her life (age 73) she ruminated about what her purpose was. My response was that she raised three humans at a time when being a wife, mother and homemaker was what was expected of women. Now that I am nearly that age, I get it what she was feeling! What could I have done that I haven’t?

My brother (her son) lives in an urban, underserved area that had become a food desert after a large grocery chain closed due to low profits. He works 7 days a week teaching children to garden, hauling manure, picking up food that would otherwise be discarded from markets and delivering it to a restaurateur who turns it into soup to give those without food, passing out fruit and vegetable smoothies (free) to those in need, and writes grants for his community. He did this for no pay for years and lived off his savings, but eventually his local municipality gave a him a small stipend.
My brother will never have to wonder about his purpose and my parents would be very proud of him even though he has very little in the way of material goods to show for his efforts.

Didn’t mean for this to be so long, but the theme of purpose moved me.

Thanks for reading,
Cindy

beautifully said!