Life is for living, age is but a number, and you're as old as you think you are, etc. etc.

I am..... got to jump at everything that comes your way never mind your age.

One of my favourite stories......

DD3's grandmother-inlaw had been asthmatic most of her life. At the age of 82 her GP recommended a new medication which she refused on the basis that it wasn't a tried & trusted drug and there wasn't enough information about the long term effects of taking it! Love it!

I'm with you every step of the way NannaAnna. Tomorrow always has the potential to be the best day of my life so far!!!

Old is only inevitable in your bones not in your attitude to life! Carpe deum and all that...
Just spent the day with my 87 yr old aunt at a family get together. She is furious that she is no longer allowed to drive ( she gets dizzy spells). She always looks smart and stylish, enjoys the company of younger people and keeps up with current affairs etc etc. She has a myriad of 'conditions' had a triple bypass takes a ton of tablets but can always beat me at a game of scrabble! The one thing that does get her down is that her friends have either died or are not fit enough to get out and about and she misses them. So she is more reliant on us, her nieces & nephews to get out and socialise and this annoys her as she would prefer to be independent. She uses skype to keep in touch with her sons and grandsons who live in Dubai and Abu Dahbi.

NannaAnna - just what my OH said when he decided to learn to play the accordion a couple of years ago! He is learning the full chromatic accordion, and it is very difficult, but he loves it.

I am looking foward to my next big adventure - emigrating to New Zealand when I am 75!

In defence of the other thread, NanaAnna, I would just point out that no one was actually wishing themselves back to their perceived 'best time', it was just an exercise in assessing what had been a good period in our individual pasts. We all know that there is the possibility of even greater times ahead!

And it is surely good to share your happy memories with others? That is another thing that life is all about, how we have lived, what we have done, and the dreams we have for the future often based on what we have achieved (or not) in the past.

Recent family events have made me prone to going back and dwelling on mistakes I have made - fortunately I have one daughter and a sister who both reassure me that I am not responsible for everything that goes wrong in the lives of my adult children.

nanaej your aunt should meet my 90 year old aunt, they sound kindred spirits!

I remember an old friend of my grandparents - she must have been in her 80's when I knew her and always described herself as "being no better than I ought to be". She was great fun and from the stories she told obviously had a very "racy" life. She was in a wheelchair and when I took her out she would say she was just the right height to admire the rears of all the young men - and she wasn't averse to pitching them sometimes (much to my embarrassment). She enjoyed her life to the full and I often wish I had her "chutzpah".

I dread older age. I am hating being nearly 60. I have virtually got to target weight and play golf three times a week have a lovely handsome husband with all his working parts intact but nothing beat being in my thirties with my career blossoming, every day was exciting now every day is the same.

Well, at least you're honest, susiecb!

Trying to live in 'now' seems to work for me. I don't always succeed but when I do it makes me glad to be alive.

When absentdaughter was little, she'd always ask on my birthday, "What is your best age?" and I would always answer, "The next one". I still think that way – whether it's my birthday or not.

susie are you still working? If you are then you have yet to expereince the wonders of retirement! I know many people feel that it is the end of everything but believe me it is just the beginning. Look forward to it with great expectations.

Anna as I said in the other thread, I try to look forward not back and we are having a great retirement, travelling to far flung places and trying out new experiences. I now have time to excercise more than when I was working and can touch my toes with my legs straight for the first time ever! According to the docs I have loads of things wrong with me but none of them bother me so I just don't go to the doc about them.

DH and I spend more time together than before but also enjoy spending time apart.

Yesterday we went to Handsworth in Birmingham to a reggae festival and it was great fun! Incidentally with all the media going on about race issues we were in a predominantly black area but all races were represented and mixed with each other and there was no trouble at all. The few police there had a lovely easy day.

Greatnan A virtual ((hug)). I am also prone to mulling over past mistakes and dwelling on regrets. It's sometimes hard not to let that spoil the present. I think I have a guilt-prone personality but motherhood seems to bring a whole new level of guilt along with it.

I had a lovely day with my family last weekend when I was perfectly 'in the present', so I shall aspire to more of that (thanks Grannybug)

I had a friend with a 99-year old Mother who lived alone and did all her own cooking, baking bread and did her own housework. She decided she needed a new carpet so my friend took her to choose but she would only look at ones with a 10-year guarantee! I was truly impressed by that.

The fact is though, that however you try to avoid it, you are as old as your birth certificate says and we are all on the same path with its inevitable ending. So I try to see every day as a bonus and enjoy all the nice things that happen and minimise the rest!

I agree with all the positivity , can"t help it , love everything about life [big time] [sunshine all the way]

My aunt lived on her own until she was 97 and had a better social life than the rest of the family, she even had a toyboy who used to take her for trips out.

nightowl and Greatnan...like you, I've been through a long period of 'soul-searching' and have retraced a painful path of remorse for what I consider to be personal failings. Thankfully, I've now reached a better place. At last, I allow myself to enjoy the simplest of pleasures. Apart from wishing that my "inners" would give me less hassle, I LOVE LIFE - and intend doing so for as long as I'm allowed.

Nonu, so do I. We all seem to have our ups and downs, and if we don't have something in our past which causes us concern then perhaps we haven't really lived? The old saying we learn from our mistakes is very true, and I am old enough to have made more than my share, I'm afraid, but I can live with that and have moved on to enjoy a happy retirement; I know I am very fortunate to be able to share that with my other half.

Yes alsion I have been retired for three years and its nice not to go to work in some ways but also can be rather boring I did have avery busy exciting job. Now I am getting a group together to form a social enterprie and run our local cinema which has closed and that's is giving me a bit of a buzz but still rather be younger.

Now I'm retired I do miss going to work, the social side of it and the exercising of the little grey cells. But when I was at work, I couldn't wait to retire! There is much to say for and against both.

I'd like physically to be in my 30s as the only thing I dislike about getting older is the creaking joints etc and not being able to do things quite as I used to.

Mentally though I am in a much better place, managed to accept and come to terms with previous situations and thoroughly enjoying being a grandma to six super grandchildren. It is true that mixing with children keeps you young in spirit and it gives me a chance to act like the real fool I am

I promised myself I would take up quite a few things once I retired, I really must get my act together and get started

I'm quite happy being the age I am, and the age I'm going to be, whenever that takes place as the years go on! I could have done a lot of things in a better way, and have made so many awful mistakes. In saying that, if I'd known they were going to be mistakes, I wouldn't have made them! I perhaps let my parents down...... I could've been a better parent.....? I bet you anything my own parents said exactly the same. We can only do our best - and to do that we have to look forward! Anyway, the builder's giving me a 20 year guarantee on my roof......I want to be here when it runs out!