How do you feel about that? For yourself? For your loved one(s)? I saw AMOUR yesterday. Everyone says it's a downer. Not. It's a thinker, and high time. I have a granddaughter who is a doctor, working on her pediatric specialty now, so obviously more concerned with the living than with the dying. I asked her if she would assume PPC (Power of Personal Care) for me when the time comes, that is, when I can no longer be trusted to make my own decisions or when I am gaga, whichever comes first. Being a doctor she zeroed in immediately on the key question: "Do you want a DNR order?" she asked. Yes. Have you read Albert Brooks's novel, 2030? It's about all the old people who are living too long and depriving younger ones of income and opportunity? We really have to start thinking about that. Also about quality of life. Life goes on, but you don't have to. Think about it. In the meantime, take good care of yourself.
what have you learned?
Some years ago a friend suggested that I make a list (I love lists!) of everything - well, not everything, but a few things - that I have learned since I turned 60. It's a game you can play with yourself at odd times and it also provides some ah-hah moments about some things you never knew you knew, or didn't. I learned the displacement theory of measurement when I was 21, watching my cousin measure the butter for a cake. (People baked cakes from scratch in those days.) I remember learning how to fill a drum-type humidifier (old model), by watching someone pour the water directly onto the drum instead of down the side and wetting everything. But I didn't learn how to fill an ice cube tray until I was post-sixty and watched my daughter tip the tray under the flow of water, letting gravity fill the lower compartments. As far as the metric system is concerned, I am an alien on this planet. I know that 20 is light cardigan weather, and a few palindromes: 82 F is 28 C; 61 F is 16 C, like that. Dealing with kilometres, I simply estimate driving time; a place is not x-number of kliks away, it's 20 minutes' drive, or whatever. Canadian butchers cater to AM (ante-metric) older people by pricing meat at so much per pound and I, for one, am grateful. As for cheese I measure my needs with my hands, arranging my fingers into wedge shapes or widths. These are all methods I have developed since I turned 60. Those of you in my range probably have a new trick or two up your sleeve. Is it too much to hope to learn some from you?