That's the way to do it !

I hadn't heard of her until I read your post. What an incredible woman! An inspiration. Seems like that drive around France was in her 90's. Thanks for such a lovely positive thread welbeck, just what we need.

Back in the mid-1950s, when many African colonies were getting their Independence, a retired British naval officer and his wife decided to move to New Zealand and go by sea, in the ocean going yacht they owned. However, the couple had the naval officer's 96 year old mother living with them, and in the 1950s getting to 90 was todays getting to 100. They decided she had better fly to New Zealand and made the arrangements.

When the elderly lady was told of the plans, she told them to cancel the ticket. She would come on the sailing yacht with them - and she did, sitting on deck and knitting sweaters, gloves and scarves that might be needed in the cooler climate of New Zealand.

I heard this story on the radio when I was in my mid-teens and it made an immense impression on me, I decided she would be my inspiration and example when I grew old - and she is.

What lovely inspirational stories and a reminder for us to be brave and bold in these trying times! A life well lived .....

Fabulous stories ladies - thank you for sharing! Some folks just have that ‘gung-ho’ spirit don’t they? Amazing.

Actually it seems wealth helps. Frees the mind.
?

My dad's godmother lived to be I think about 102, maybe 103. She still DROVE at the age of 100. She drove all her friends to their doctor's appointments because they had given up driving. She lived in a lodge, but she didn't really need any assistance. She'd only moved there as she was a widow and living alone on a very isolated farm, and her sons suggested that she move to the lodge to ensure she would be able to get help if necessary. Sadly, she died on the table during a routine surgery - I think she fell and broke a hip or something.

Not so much wealth as not being in poverty - although even that doesn't daunt some people. I have read many stories of people like retired gurkhas whose, hardiness, ingrained from birth enables them to undertake incredible journeys and activities into extreme, extreme old age, and stories often come out of disasters like Syria and Yemen of extremely old people surviving, when other members of their family have died.

Oh, I've just remembered a distant family great aunt who lived to be 102. She was always totally positive, an inspiration, in spite of (or maybe because of) the fact that when she was born her mother had wanted a boy and just fed her on flour and water. A true story. A true survivor!

An inspiring woman gave a talk at our WI. In her 60s she decided to cycle round the world on her own..She had amazing adventures & met so many kind people offering her food & shelter. The place where she met the least welcoming & sceptical , though also some welcoming , was in the USA.

Did you see that a man of 85, nearly 86, broke the world record for running a mile for runners of over 80. He beat 7 other contestants in a race at Eastbourne today.

that opening piece made me laugh out loud.
glad you liked it too.
if you want to read more about Roberta McCain,
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/12/roberta-mccain-john-mccain-mother-dies
and there is a very nice picture of her in her 90s.