Ever think how much time you have left? (relatives, husband, cancer)
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I am turning 65 soon and I think about it. I have had 3 friends die between 59-67. I do think when I buy something that it may be my last. I have plans for who gets my dogs.
A couple of things to add: I think the living to 80 if you make if past 65 thing is mostly due to cancer. It seems as though most hormone cancers seem to happen around 50's.
For me, my only concern is hanging around long enough to make sure my kids make it to adulthood. My older daughter has major ADHD and not a heck of a lot of common sense so I feel like she still really needs a mom. My younger daughter is always trying to push the envelope and I worry she will try drugs at some point. If I can hang around long enough to get them through college, I think they will have a better shot at staying away from the bad stuff. But you never know.
I am 70, and I think about it every day. A close friend of mine, who was apparently in good health, died suddenly at 70 from a DVT. His unexpected loss was such a shock that three years later I am still somewhat obsessed with death. It can happen at any time, without warning, and that's scary. A day doesn't go by when I don't wonder when my time will come, and how.
The other reason I'm concerned is that I have short telomeres. Telomeres are like strings at the ends of your DNA. They are longest at birth but shorten over time. Stress and illness can accelerate this process. When the telomeres get too short, your cells can no longer regenerate themselves and you die.
The reason I know this is that about nine years ago, I volunteered for a study at a local teaching hospital on telomeres. Volunteers were given the option of finding out their telomere length or not. I confidently opted to learn mine as there is a lot of longevity in my family, and I am very healthy. Imagine what a shock it was to find out that my telomeres are in the lowest 20% for my age group.
So I don't know what's going to happen - I hope I beat the odds - but it seems likely that I can't count on living as long as my forebears.
Well, I take my parents' death age of 95.5 and subtract mine of 70.5.
So, I guess I can buy green bananas.
I buy it anyway, if I keel over it’s only $1. Freaking cheap. Plus I grow tons of garlics and eat lots of fresh raw garlics, why, this couple I know whose husband made to 98, wife is 95 and living also ate tons of garlic. My husband doesn’t like it. He often complains about the lady in badmington who reeks of garlic smell. So I will be a smelly old person.
I have recently started thinking about it as compared to never thinking about it and assuming I would live at least to the actuarial average age. With recent deaths of several women my age and a recent very rare health issue (no known family history), I am more aware of my mortality and that my assumptions may be optimistic. So, rather than think I always have time to do certain things, I have stepped up the pace for building memories with my family. I have started to be mindful of letting friends and family know how much I appreciate them and have become more generous.
I'm almost 63, and while my health is overall okay (knock wood), signs of it being chipped away are beginning. Ten years ago I might as well have been 35--no worries, no ailments whatsoever. Now I can't look ahead more than, oh, fifteen years with any confidence. My brother passed at 68, but he had lots of health issues.
If there's anything that makes things different now for me is a persistent, rather gentle melancholy. Way too many family, friends and pets have already taken the cosmic road elsewhere, and I think of them constantly--and by extension my own mortality. It informs so many thoughts. But each day I'm still grateful to do what I can while I can.
I'm 70 y.o., have a strong mystical bent, and am perfectly at peace with the fact that my physical body likely won't last more than 15-20 more years, if that long. I just hope my body doesn't outlast my ability to function cognitively.
I've not at all come to terms with losing family, friends, coworkers, neighbors. I don't like outliving so many of them.
My mom had so many friends. Good friends but she was a good friend. We always used to joke that we couldn't get any time with her b/c she was always with her friends.
However, 2 of her really good friends died earlier than expected. She had just traveled with the one friend to NYC and NJ and had a blast. The other lady drove and my mom spoke often of their wonderful trip.
She just died unexpectedly. I know it caught my mom off guard and she was so sad.
Her other friend was blind - it happened later in life but she lived in a magnificent care place and everything was done for her. She went to visit her daughter out of state and was staying at her daughter's while the daughter went away for a couple of days. She must have dropped a glass in the kitchen and they found her days later dead on the floor. She was such an awesome, positive person (having vision issues myself, I thought this) and my mom was so disturbed about the way she died.
Both were over 70 when it happened and my mom was probably 83 or 84. No one really knew how old my mom was as her children were younger. She had gotten married at 34 and was having kids in her 40's. My dad was 7 years younger.
Conversations we would have after this revolved around the fact that she felt off center; she felt more ready to go. She had strong faith, knew where she was going and was an amazing mom.
I also have an older sister who died 5 days after being born. I know someday I will meet her. I always wanted an older sister.
I said this often as a joke, but when green bananas were on sale for like 3lbs for $1, I gave in, and bought some recently.
No worries, you can always include them in your will.
"...and to my nephew Jerome I leave whatever bananas may be left in my kitchen..."
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I remember what my mom said
