What Was Going On In Your Parents' Lives When They Were Your Current Age? (federal, depression)
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My father retired and happily spent time playing piano and gardening, among other things. I’m glad he retired then, because 10 yrs later he died of cancer.
My mother, who was much younger than he, retired right after he died. When she was my age now, she had retired and was pursuing her visual arts and, unfortunately, traveling internationally and blowing every windfall she got, which turned out to be considerable.
Some food for thought here, with all the early deaths.
My dad was still working at his physical therapy practice which he never wanted to give up, even into his 80s.
Mom still doing the housewife thing; no real hobbies or interests but lots of grandkids.
DH's parents were much more glamorous: moved to Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay and at our age, bought a large sailboat and learned to sail. Always so amazed by that. However, they both developed dementia and fortunately, had the reserves for nursing homes, for many years.
Sobering to read how many ended up in that condition.
I'm in my mid-forties; like several other posters, I'm not yet ready for retirement, but am an avid lurker and occasional poster.
When my dad was my age, unbeknownst to him, he was about to lose his job. He was subsequently unemployed for the next two years as his career required a very specific skill set and due to union rules, he couldn't take a pay cut in order to take most of the jobs that were on offer for his skills. The job that followed this period of unemployment carried him until his retirement and was an excellent fit for both him and his students. That man was a force of nature who people either loved or loathed, but was always respected. A man of excellent character who was also quite the character at times. He was gone too soon, but his was a life well-lived.
When my mother was my age, she'd been back to work for the better part of a decade after having spent several years at home with her children. Her teaching and parenting methods were gentler than those of my father, but she was very effective at both roles. Always the household manager, she's the one who made sure that we pulled through Dad's period of unemployment without destroying his pride *and* helped to keep the family on an even financial keel. Mom's still around and has managed very well on her own since being widowed with occasional input and assistance from her children and neighbors.
Mom and Dad made a most excellent team who prepared their children very well for an independent adulthood. That's something isn't fully appreciated until you meet others who weren't so fortunate when it came to their family of origin.
My parents had retired and built their long time dream of an Appalachian style log cabin on their property in NC bordering the Smoky Mountains. While working and finally with enough money to buy property for a future retirement, they had a choice of 27 acres in NC or a lot on the Outerbanks of NC for the same price of $600. We had vacationed in both while I was a teenager, first in campers and then hotels/motels as their finances improved.
My Mom at this age was still vibrant and zipping around the mountain roads in a yellow Toyota Celica, she loved that car. Dad was cutting and stacking firewood and maintaining pathways in the woods he loved. They were also traveling and enjoying their retirements. They thought nothing of hopping in their car and driving to NY. I would come home from work to find them sitting on our porch swing waiting for one of us to come home. Good times!
They were looking ahead to their future though and left their mountain homestead in move to an Asheville condo. Eventually they moved back to their Midwest hometown they had left in their early twenties and where they ended in their nineties. Those NC years were their best and I’m so glad they had them.
Divorced for many years, Dad still chasing women into his 60's, Mom still bringing men home from the bars until she was early 60's.
That is crazy. But then a few years ago when getting together our 40th high school reunion, I saw how a couple of my former female classmates were so into having a man around.
I just did not get it. We were the same age and that was not in my radar. They were acting like jr high love struck kids. Very strange.
My father would have been busy chasing a 6 year old (me). I was born late in my parents' lives. There was a significant age gap between my Dad and my Mom. It was a first marriage for both. The Depression and WWII disrupted the usual life stages.
My mother died of a heart attack when she was 60, so she wasn't doing anything. My father was suffering from issues due to a triple bypass when he was 64, intermittent claudication in his legs, and a variety of other health problems brought on by a lifetime of poor diet and little exercise. The last time I saw him before he died, he was on about a dozen prescription medications.
I'm 67 and I honestly don't know why I don't have any chronic health problems, given my crappy family history of cardiac problems (older brother has had two aortic valve replacements - the first one failed catastrophically at 7 years). Both grandmothers died before 60, too. Heart failure at 58 for one, stroke at 35 for the other. I'm the only one in the family that never developed high blood pressure or Type 2 diabetes.
The only thing I can think of is that I've always eaten a healthy diet, kept my weight down, and exercised a lot. No sedentary lifestyle, smoking, or excessive drinking for me.
My father had been dead of a heart attack for three years, a few weeks after he turned 57. My mother was back in the states for a few more years as an Aerospace worker after overseas in Europe and Australia for years, (divorced from my father in the mid-seventies).
She just died a few weeks ago at 89 after having moved down to be close with us for the 25 years of her retirement. Hoping I inherited her longevity genes as I just retired and and am looking forward to continued fun for several years.
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He was gone too soon, but his was a life well-lived. 
This is lovely
