Older people will be more likely to understand this. The young may think it maudlin and

[Atticus]

irrelevant.

As I filled our bird feeders this morning and put out some suet, I felt compelled to stop and just watch the swirl of "downy flakes". And, as I marvelled at just what a wonder a snowfall is, I wondered if I would see another one.

Now, as far as I know, I am a fairly healthy 73 year old but, once one has lived their "three score and ten", they cannot avoid contemplating their own mortality. Each spring, each 4th of July, each Thanksgiving and Christmas, each wonderful---beautiful!---snowfall is more likely to be savored.

None of us, young or old, is guaranteed tomorrow, but those my age are more likely to treat today as a priceless gift.

Just some ramblings by an old man.

[OLDMDDEM]

1. Thank you

I am 74 and what you said was beautiful.

[PortTack]

2. It sounds a peaceful rambling all in all!

“Get busy living or get busy dying.” A line from the movie Shawshank Redemption by the character Red, played by Morgan Freeman

Sounds like you fall in the get busy living!

[SergeStorms]

26. Bob Dylan said it long before Shawshank came along.

One of my all-time favorite songs since it's release. Yeah, I'm that old.

[reACTIONary]

61. Thanks...

... one of mine also, but I had the cover version from the Easy Rider soundtrack. The first album I owned.

[SergeStorms]

65. The Roger McGuinn version.

I like that version better than Dylan's myself, and I'm sorry I didn't post that one instead.

Giving props to the guy that wrote it I guess.

[PortTack]

69. Learn something new everyday

[Frustratedlady]

3. I'm older than you, but I also ponder what my future holds...or doesn't.

When the kids run in to drop some item off that I need and say, "Gotta run. I want to mow the yard before the mosquitoes drop in," I wonder if they'll regret that fast task? Or, will they say..."I should have spent a little time with Mom." I don't blame them, I just regret that they are always in a hurry.

Then I think back to when my parents needed me in their final years and I made a quick trip of it, from time to time. I guess the kids had a teacher in elderly care, eh?

Most of the time, they are great and we get along so well.

[Walleye]

6. I sure wish I had spent more time with my mom and Pop

[True Blue American]

25. I was beginning to feel that way,

But am getting more attention since I am the only one left in my DIL’s family and mine. Her Mother a great friend passed this summer. She was 97,guys! I am kidding though. They drive 40 miles and we are in constant touch. Text,email, face time. I am not neglected. And I love staying in my house we built.

And led a very active life until 3 years ago. The pandemic really hurt the elderly.

Biden is speaking on CSPAN, laying out what we have accomplished in a year. Millions of new Jon’s. Rebidding our Manufacturing. Taking care of people.

[Walleye]

4. I can relate. Every year when the hummingbirds leave I wonder if I'll be alive to see them come back

I just turned 73 last month. My mom was 70 when she died, my boyfriend was 69. I feel lucky that both my brothers and my best friend are still healthy.

[Hekate]

46. We are a few years older, and planning to plant hummingbird sage along the back fence...

…in a few weeks.

I already have one plant that attracts them by my kitchen window — can’t find the name, but the flowers are purple and the little hummers really love it.

They are a joy, aren’t they?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. Keep in mind, that at 73 you probably still have

at least a decade more to live.

People tend to think that the life expectancy at birth is kind of an upper limit, and it's not.

[Atticus]

7. I do understand that, but I also understand that, statistically, my rheumatoid

arthritis clips 3 to 7 years off my "expectancy", so----

Today has gone well---so far.

[XacerbatedDem]

76. Reminds me of what I read on one of the posters here, their bi-line under their post:

"Best to accept the present moment as a present from the moment." And this I've tried to do every day since.

It's amazing how much better I feel, with all that's going on in this crazy world today, when I just take the time to go out for a walk. It is so rejuvenating. Getting out amongst Nature is healing.

[packman]

8. Hey, as an 80 yr. older fart

Laugh at every opportunity, embrace every feeling (pain and joy included), savior every mouthful, wonder at every breath - and sing this old song every day as loud as you can possibly can:

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream

[True Blue American]

28. So true! I am in the Y pool 3 mornings a week at 6:30

Get out of the house at every opportunity

Now listen to my tale. I had a CapTel Icon put on my I Phone and IPAD . Watching a video on , my phone started ringing on my IPad. Trying to get off the video, My landline stated ringing, then my Ring doorbell rang. No one was there. The landline was a robot call.

Ain’t technology great?

[malaise]

45. You have the right attitude

Enjoy - and don't worry - come hell or highwater we'll all die eventually

[CrispyQ]

9. As I get older I have similar thoughts.

Autumn is my favorite season & we had a stunning autumn last year. The best since 2004. Day after day of gorgeous color & fabulous weather. And when all the leaves had fallen, I wondered if I'd see another autumn as spectacular again. So glad to have had that one.

[Atticus]

30. Autumn is my favorite season, too.

"When the autumn winds
Turn leaves to flame
One hasn't got time
For the waiting game"

[Binkie The Clown]

10. I'm 76 and I share your thoughts

With each activity I do, I wonder "Is this the last time I will be able to do this?"

There have already been so many last times in recent years, and the list just keeps growing. I've already taken my last camping trip, hiked up my last mountain, gone surfing for the last time, kissed a woman for the last time, and so many more.

Soon enough I'll cook my own dinner for the last time, get dressed without help for the last time, take a deep breath for the last time, wake up for the last time....

And who knows what comes next. Maybe something, maybe nothing. The skeptics make a good case, and those who've had "near death experiences' also make a good case. It's not irrational to believe in a continuation of consciousness, nor is it irrational to believe in an end to consciousness. Either way, it doesn't matter what I believe. The experience will be what it will be. And believing or disbelieving won't change anything.

[Joinfortmill]

33. I'm hoping for another dimension where I live in 1920s Paris as the muse of

some obscure artist who paints me while I write scandalous love poems. It's better than fire and brimstone!

[yorkster]

34. Possible continuation of consciousness,

as you say, and in addition the possibility of universal consciousness...
But, of course "qui sait, qui sait "?

[NJCher]

71. For a clown

You are prescient. (Last paragraph.)

Anyway, you can transverse the dimensions now if you have the desire to do so.

It takes work and discipline, just like anything else.

A change in human consciousness is the next revolution.

It has happened before: The Origins of Consciousness and the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. Julian Jaynes.

Ultimately, however, I, too, conclude with what you say in your last sentence.

[Binkie The Clown]

77. I read that book when it first came out in the 70s.

I don't recall a lot about it, so maybe it's time to read it again.

Also, I do meditate.

[MartyTheGreek]

81. Just had to chime in on your NDE reference...

I'm over 60 now, but my NDEs happened decades ago but it's so profound you'll never forget it! First was during or just after a convulsion from an extremely high fever from untreated strep and was next was death, but they just got me in the ER in time for an ice bath and penicillin. One theory was that the cold penicillin threw me into shock, but the experience many NDE people have with the tunnel travel, sound, music, beings, incredible love, a feeling that you have been there before, and for me a return obviously, but everything happened in reverse order the same way I went there but no passage past where the beings were.

Later in life, just before my 20th birthday, I was stabbed and nearly had a bleed out with my vision in sync with my heart beat going in and out no strength. So now it was prayer time, I was a former Catholic and barely made the sign of the cross, said Our Father and Hail Mary and that was it! Except, I was suddenly in this blackness and had a mini-life review like most NDE people say and made a petition type prayer to change my life, had a flash vision of my funeral and woke up a day later in the ER.

I never really experienced my NDE with my guides as they say, but the souls that go to the deeper levels say, they get to feel what you have done to others emotionally, I felt my family at my funeral. Emotions in life have deep effects spiritually, are energetic, a thing and many say they even volunteer to come back to fix their Karma for lack of a better word. Many NDE stories on YouTube.

Just a few weeks ago, someone died with the full EEG or whatever monitors still on their head. It would be unethical to do this clinically, the monitor revealed that the memory center of the brain is lit up also where images are stored. I thought, is this the upload! With Humor! Lastly, the main thing that NDE people want other people to know is that this is gonna be a lights on experience not to be feared. What's crazy is, everything is known during the tunnel travel, which I think is a wormhole!

[LakeArenal]

11. As someone who has lost or am losing 4 people...

To cancer over the last year: we have seen loved ones, my age or younger, go. Some in just a couple months after diagnosis.

Life changes in a second or less.

Scary and yet….

[2Gingersnaps]

12. Bittersweet is it not? What truly matters changes drastically.

[Greybnk48]

13. I wonder the same as you with every holiday,

storm, sunset, milestone. Sometimes when I wake up in the morning I think this. 73 y/o here as well (and Im reasonably healthy).

[gab13by13]

14. I am 74 and do something harder,

once in a while I watch the wind.

[SergeStorms]

22. Very tricky.

At least you've stopped trying to catch it.

Good luck with your wind watch.

[TNNurse]

15. My husband just turned 72...he caught up with me.

He thinks about this more than I do. We live out in the country and do not have children. We wonder how much longer we can maintain our property and enjoy the wildlife and such. We hope to make it to 80 in our current house. I do not think about it as much. However, we are both cancer survivors (me breast cancer 10 years and he liposarcoma 6). His parents both lived into their 80s. My father died at 50, my mother at 76, so I do not expect longevity. I do not obsess though.

[TygrBright]

16. Appreciation for the small miracles is a gift of age. n/t

[irisblue]

17. The late winter sun shining into my living room about 4pm

Is a memory jewel I cherish

[L. Coyote]

18. I'm 72 and I'm more concerned I won't see another snowfall because

of global warming. Yes, I plan to live that long.

[SergeStorms]

19. I internalize my old man ramblings.

But I definitely know of what you speak, Atticus.

I stopped putting suet out for the birds now. The Starlings are back, and they'll clean out a small block of suet every day if I put it out there. They're also very nasty birds, and will kill other birds vying for the same food source. I actually watched a Starling kill a Downey Woodpecker once because it had the audacity to try to get a little suet. They'll peck the other birds right into their eyes, and it's only a fraction of an inch to the brain from there.

Needless to say, I'm not a big fan of Starlings.

[DENVERPOPS]

20. BRAVO ATTICUS......NC

[arlyellowdog]

21. Yeah, somethings going on

I was never like this. I’m 71 and these thoughts just started. I know I’m not living a whole lot longer (I’m 71, cancer survivor, window), but I don’t think that’s it. I think it’s this fucking war. I though we were done with this kind of war. It’s messing up our brains.

[smirkymonkey]

82. I'm only in my 50's and I have started to have these feelings.

And a lot of it has to do with the possibility of nuclear war and of the potential of authoritarian republican rule in this country. Not to mention global warming and capitalism on steroids. We never think about how the atrocities that have happened in other countries in the past could ever happen here because they haven't yet, but we are just a young nation, so the key word is "YET".

Life seems harsh and dangerous enough, even if you are healthy, but with all that has been going on lately, I am not optimistic that there won't be some kind of cataclysmic, population destroying event in this country over the next 5-10 years. Whether it's war, ethnic/political cleansing, starvation, natural disasters due to climate change, etc., it just seems like our time of peace and prosperity is coming to an end.

[nuxvomica]

23. Age neither ensures nor prevents our sense of wonder

Wordsworth wrote of our loss of that sense in adulthood:

Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;

And yet you have found it again. Innocence is not the sole property of the young. We reclaim it again whenever we fight corruption and seek to make the world a safer place for others.

[gab13by13]

24. Sherwood Anderson wrote a book, Winesberg, Ohio.

Long story short, it's the little things in life that matter. Good book, easy to read.

[patphil]

27. Stop and smell the roses.

I'm 75 and am aware of how life can change in a matter of seconds...seen it many times.
I've come to realize that it's the simple things in life that can give the most joy; like sitting out on my deck in the summer and listening to the birds sing, and the breeze rustle through the leaves on the trees, or the dance of fallen leaves moving across the ground with the wind. I've always appreciated the natural world. There is a harmony and beauty there that we take all to much for granted.
And, of course, all those priceless memories of family and friends; memories past, and memories yet to come.

Today is indeed a priceless gift.

[Gordcanuck]

57. What resonates with me

Is the view of life you have and how I had rushed through nearly all my years up to age 60 or so before beginning to see that it is indeed the simple things , the ones like the seasons changing, the leaves rustling and hudtling along, etc. that I just couldn’t appreciate until now at 74. My thanks for the reminder.

[Hulk]

29. Almost every night I have this thought.

A 74 year old man....grateful for the wonderful life I experienced...sad for the future generations.

[Joinfortmill]

31. I'm with you. I'm also 73.

I remember when my dad was in his 70's, he told me that he was satisfied with his life, with a few exceptions he had accomplished what he wanted. His words had a powerful impact on me. From then on, I tried to accomplish those things I had always said I wanted to do. I did most of them. I am a satisfied person now - at peace with myself. I am still relatively healthy and I enjoy my life. I have no regrets that I didn't do what I had always desired. Thank you, Dad!

[malthaussen]

32. The odd thing is we are no more assured of our tomorrows at 17 than 77...

... but at 17 we are less inclined to think about it. This is why I say that Life is an exercise in denial.

Such complacency is a survival trait, for if one really contemplates how fragile his mortality is, he would be disinclined to make plans for the future, have children, or put off present gratification for subsequent reward. As such, it is encouraged by society, which would cease to function if people weren't willing to bet against the House in the course of living their lives.

-- Mal

[Old Crank]

35. This September

I was back in the states and saw some people that I might not get to see again. Being in Germany means I just can't get to see them on the weekend. It makes the time spent now more special.

[Ocelot II]

36. Yep, I get it.

I often read the obits in my local paper. Too many of them are my age or not much older. However, it's disappointing every time to see that my perfidious, faithless old boyfriend isn't dead yet.

[Duncan Grant]

37. "Beauty will save the world".

“One day Dostoevsky threw out the enigmatic remark: “Beauty will save the world”. What sort of a statement is that? For a long time I considered it mere words. How could that be possible? When in bloodthirsty history did beauty ever save anyone from anything? Ennobled, uplifted, yes – but whom has it saved?” — Section 2: Alexandr Solzhenitsyn Nobel Lecture in Literature 1970

As you seem to be a man who cultivates a sense of wonder, you may enjoy it (or not…). In any case, from one humble inhabitant of the great blue marble to another. Lovely rambling, btw. 👍

[Atticus]

40. Thank you. I enjoyed it. nt

[PittBlue]

38. I am your age...

I can so relate to this. Well said.

[nitpicker]

39. I hope that everyone has an ability to cope with s*** or i**

I actually hired a taskrabbiter to remove the last s***fall after both my mother and I could not cope.

Whether one can shovel themselves out, get a relative to do it, or have retreated to one-level living, or have stocked up with six months worth of food, be glad you can do that.

[VGNonly]

41. Winter

Snow is but a blanket, under which the land sleeps.

[raccoon]

42. I'm old too, but not as old as you. I understand what you are saying. NT

[Skittles]

43. Atticus, do you remember the movie On the Beach

been thinking of that classic lately

[Atticus]

44. Yes, I do. I prefer "with a bang". nt

[Larissa]

50. The one on my mind

Is "Testament" (1983) with Jane Alexander and William Devane. Once you've seen this film you will never forget it . . . especially now. The sensitive should be cautious; there's no happy ending.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086429/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

[70sEraVet]

47. When I was still working for a living, I began to notice that my co-workers were getting younger

and younger (I suppose that the advances in technology were requiring a younger workforce, just like I have to call in a grandson to help when I upgrade to a new phone).
But I've since joined the local American Legion post, and I'm in that prime age - old enough to have time, but young enough to have energy, for community projects!
I THRIVE in retirement!

[HubertHeaver]

58. I first noticed how very young the women were while trying to stay awake during a meeting.

It was during the summer, in Texas, when the ladies were all wearing sleeveless tops. The people my age had smallpox vaccination scars.

My mother noticed a similar divide at a teacher in-service training. Some teachers her age had actual smallpox scars.

[MatthewHatesTrump2]

48. K&R

Thanks

[bluestarone]

49. Back at ya! 74 now will be 75 in August.

I also fill bird feeders and wonder how long i can handle living in the country. What state you live in, if i may ask? North Dakota here, and i really do NOT want more snow. LOL Ready for warmer temps here for sure. Days are getting longer. We have really lived in GREAT times. (can say that now) Didn't know this in the 50's and 60's and 70's. Looking back they were great. I have bad thoughts for Grand kids future, BUT if this world does straighten out, they will see things really awesome. (space, trips to planets, maybe life in outer space?) Who knows huh? Well you got me started. Nice talking at you ALL! Would like to see a sign on our names showing like over 60 or over 70 or 80? Rambling over! All have a good day!!

[Atticus]

51. I am in Illinois and today was only the third time we had enough snow to cover the ground. It

had all melted by early afternoon.

[bluestarone]

54. Been to the Lincoln memorial in Springfield about 7 years ago

Was AWESOME!! I highly recommend it to ALL. Love walking around the town.

[Cheviteau]

53. You're Still Young

I'm eighty-two, and the middle one of seven children. In the last 24 months I've lost the three older and the three younger. Leaving me. And I'm the one who played hide-'n-seek in the jungles of SE Asia for 2 years. Irony has no bounds. But, the party's over. Guess the trash (me) will be taken out soon enough, even though I'm in pretty decent health as of this writing.

Just hang in there.

[justhanginon]

55. Bird feeders and suet. Your morning is much like mine and speaking as an 85 year old,

I think your post nailed it for many of us. We may be a bit creaky and even sometimes a bit cranky but I think we do appreciate each day given to us.

[ancianita]

56. I feel you. Fairly healthy 73 years old, too, & finally settled from Hyde Park, Chi, to Florida.

Having recently lost my husband of 35 years, I savor every day, too, feel the love of my children and friends and wonder how many "last" times I have left with them. Behind my home, I'm lucky to have a big lake, flocks of infinite bird drama and big sky.

Thanks for your touching ramblings, old man.

[Richard58]

59. Wonderful sentiment!

I'm 63 and pretty healthy although I am pre-diabetic and have high blood pressure for which I take medication. My hair is gray, I struggle to keep a healthy weight and I don't have as much energy as I once did. I can no longer party all night and am in bed by 10. But my life is good. I have a nice pension, good health insurance and have no real debt.
But I am also very aware of the passage of time. Days, weeks, months seem to fly by.I can't believe it is March already. It seems like yesterday it was Christmas! It makes me ponder how many good years do I have left? Ten? Twenty? Thirty? Will I be one of those 90+ yr olds who are spry and healthy or will I be confined to a wheelchair, wear diapers and have to carry oxygen around with me? I have no idea. I hope for the former and fear the latter. My mother died 3 yrs ago after a 15 yr bout with Alzheimers. (That was horrible. She was like a zombie her last 3 yrs.) My father died shortly afterwards of cancer. Both were 88.
But I appreciate the little things in life now. I know life is short so I enjoy the sweetness of it whenever I can. I stop to look at flowers. Enjoy listening to the wind. Savor a nice, hot cup of tea. Like listening to the birds chirp. I no longer crave status, fancy clothes or "keeping up with the Jones". I am content with what I have and realize the things I wanted most in my youth were just vanity. It was all show. I no longer care about that crap. I care much more about the people around me and wanting the leave the world a better place. That's why it kills me to see our society regressing into something ugly. Bigotry, religious zealotry and selfishness seem to be "in things" now and I grieve over that fact. I want the world to be a nicer place. Is that too much to ask?

[llmart]

60. I can certainly relate to your ramblings.

I'm a very healthy 73 year old woman and I appreciate the fact that you are honest about thinking of your mortality more often these days. A lot of people our age get the message from society that we should be parasailing over the ocean or skiing in the Olympics since us "boomers" are supposed to be soooo different than our parents' generation. We keep hearing these memes of "70 is the new 50" or "you're only as old as you feel", or "everyone's going to live to be 100". Those messages aren't really helpful in dealing with the aging process as far as I'm concerned.

I'm a bit different than most on this thread who say they never much thought about the simple things in life when they were younger. I did. I had some sort of wisdom about life even before I was fully an adult. I think it stems from watching my mother die of cancer when I was a teenager and then having my father die five years after that. It really woke me up to what was truly important in life and it certainly wasn't the size of my house or car or the clothes I wore or the career I had. I travelled a considerable amount in my 30's, 40's and 50's because I internalized a feeling that I might not live long enough to do those things since neither of my parents made it to 60. It's also the reason I got married young and had my children when I was young.

I can't say I think about my death every single day, but I do think about how long I'll be this healthy and fit and when I'm not, how will I adapt to that if it happens.

I did get really excited about a week ago when I heard the first red winged blackbirds had returned to the park where I walk every day! Can't wait to see the first daffodil pop up in my yard.

[Martin68]

62. Please don't assume young people don't get this. I am 70 years old, and I hated it when adults

did that when I was young.

[SilasSouleII]

63. Thanks Atticus

I needed to hear that particular reminder today. Indeed tomorrow is not guaranteed to anyone.

[BobTheSubgenius]

64. You are not alone, by any means.

[Jack-o-Lantern]

66. I'm 76 and not in the best of health and I consider the prospect of death often...too often, I think.

I am grateful for my longevity, so many people are denied that privilege.
Is there something following death? That might be interesting but it’s is a pipe-dream I’m sure.
Well, Mark Twain once mused “I was dead for billions of years before I was alive…and it didn’t inconvenience in the least.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

67. Ditto!

I'm 70. My mom lived to 75 and my dad lived to 77. I'm not happy about it.

[usonian]

68. Hey, septuagenarians, savor every minute!

Oops, I'm one myself.

Living in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Snow arrives roughly twice a year. Friends in the nearby San Joachin Valley never see any.

Spring has sprung again and the Indian Paintbrush are popping up. The second snow, only an inch or so, sandwiched between two warm spells, decorated the plants.



Nature is always amazing. So I splurged on myself for a change and bought a new camera.

Spoil yourself.
Spoil yourself.

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

[Tanuki]

70. ...of my years three score and ten..

https://poets.org/poem/loveliest-trees

by A. E. Houseman

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.

And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.

[Trueblue Texan]

72. These moments...

...are even more precious when we remember what our Ukrainian brothers and sisters are suffering. Life is precious. Savoring these moments is the highest form of gratitude.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

73. This septuagenarian will live forever.

I expect to be surprised some day. Oh, well, nobody expected the Spanish Inquisition, either.

[Swede]

74. I watched a video where a little girl was staying with her grama for awhile.

After a few days the little girl would grunt "uuhhh" when she picked something up or got up off the floor. Just like grama.

We are all circling the drain and some of us are getting closer. Appreciate the little things and enjoy life is what I try to do.

[mnhtnbb]

75. I turned 71 this week and I find myself thinking about death--and longevity--a lot

I, too, am fairly healthy. But I've had three joint replacements, have asthma, and need to lose weight. In the last couple of months I've been somewhat surprised every day I wake up. I think the pandemic and the stress of the last few years has aged a lot of us. Recently I told a friend that when I was in my 50's and up until I was about 65, I could pass as someone 5-10 years younger than I was. Now, I feel my age and I think that is reflected in the mirror.

I moved--I hope for the last time--into a newly constructed house in January 2021. Last November I planted--well, my handyman did--400 tulip and daffodil bulbs. They've all started blooming in the last week or so. And I wonder if I'll be here to see them come up next spring. I never had such thoughts until recently. I updated my will (because of COVID) and have left written instructions for the son who will be Executor.

Still, I have two trips planned for April and the end of May that are yearly trips which I had to give up during the pandemic. I wonder already whether they will each be the last, or whether I'll get to do them--or even feel like doing them--next year. I hope so.

You aren't alone, Atticus, in contemplating your own mortality.

[birdographer]

78. This is relevant to me...

I'm 70, will turn 71 in about a month. In mid-January I found out I am slightly worse than in the middle of kidney disease. That was quite the surprise/shock. So now my days are numbered (but I have the rare view of what will take me out, most likely, barring a log truck accident or the like...), but I don't know what that number is. I can no longer eat any of the foods I used to love, in fact I barely eat any food at all now (not that I'm not hungry, but to ease the work the kidneys have to do). I am living the "one day at a time" rule. I wake up in the morning and while scared/terrified of what the future holds for me, I tell myself that while I am going to die sooner than I planned, I am not going to die today. And I have a normal day. Tomorrow is another day, la di da, and all that. I read the news and ask myself WHY I am so upset to be leaving this planet.

[ShazzieB]

79. I'll be 72 later this month.

And, although I have thought about my mortality quite a bit in the last couple of years, I somehow had never gotten to the point of thinking "This could the last [fill in the blank] for me." After this, I definitely will.

Even though I hope to live to be 100 like my Aunt Agnes (may she rent in peace), and even though things have been holding up pretty well so far, it's best not to loose sight of the fact that none of us knows for sure how much time we have left.

Carpe diem!

[DownriverDem]

80. Met my husband

in our 40s. We married in our 50s. It was my 1st marriage and his second one. His ex was a whore who hurt him to the core. Having said that he treats me very well. I always thought I would just be single my whole life. We are so thankful to have found each other.