@msmarymac
Oh Lord! So far you're all making me laugh - THANK YOU! I'm 71 and probably have all the risk factors for a heart attack or stroke within the next 12 hours. I have 2 knees and a shoulder that can be replaced anytime. Hammer toes are my new challenge - in my feet with neuropathy.... I don't plan to take anymore drugs than currently prescribed, and after 75 I may not see a doctor again. I love to cook and haven't planned to exercise in at least 3 years. Hoping to get in my garden tomorrow. I laugh at the products to buy because we're OLD, and I'll answer my Medicare question GOOD no matter what. God has chosen a time for me and I just hope to still have my mind, be able to see, and hear. For a bonus if I can still play the piano some, I'm good to go. I am quite pain free fortunately. Just slower. I think much of our illness is from stress in this totally insane humanity of ours. So I have few shoulds or musts. I prefer to hug children, watch birds, meditate on flowers, and listen to the wind. I love the Cherokee story above. Interestingly I learned recently that I'm the healthiest of my 6 sister siblings. Now that's actually pathetic by "today's standards." But today's standards are based on medical miracles and TV commercials. My standards come from prayer, listening to the advice and lessons I catch, and doing whatever I want. For 35 yrs I raised kids, a husband, and had a career that, probably like yours, exhausted every fiber of my being. My mother and Tony Bennett taught me to SMILE. Of course I'd NOT love to do it all again. I'd rather have back some people I've lost. I believe we have the power to heal ourselves some. Much much much of it is a mental game (along with the crapshoot of genetics.) There are definite limits to crazy and unsafe to be alone or in a job. But OLD is just ... a frame of mind. And very bittersweet. It takes getting used to. Put it on like a bright royal cloak. Wear it like Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci wear Prade. You've won! The rest is a continuing homerun. But thank you all for being here with me.