What is your picture of a gran?

I was just thinking about this today. I passed an older lady(not sure just how old) bowed over and pulling a shopping trolley and wondered if she was a similar age to the four very glamourous older ladies who were sat next to me in a restaurant last week. I guess they must have been about 80 but they were laughing, drinking wine and generally having a good time. What determines how we age ? is it finance or attitude?

Hi just popped over from Conwy in North wales to join in the chat.
In terms of grans I suppose it all depends how old your kids are when they have children themselves.
I had my daughter at 20 but she didn't have hers until she was 40 so that made me 60 for the first grandchild now they are 8 and 6 and I am 69, which is quite reasonable although I am generally knackered when they go home. However my hubby who has grandchildren from his first marriage was only in his forties when they came along.
He is old enough at 70 to be a great grandad but not yet.
Age is purely a number they say and all a state of mind, however it's about health and energy isn't it?
It is also about how life has treated us, I live in an area where there are plenty of people retired and my age some of whom seem older than they are and some like me keeping my mind active. There is a saying and that is my mind makes appointments my body cannot keep sometimes.

I find it fascinating how differently we age. This really came home to me several years ago when I attended a 30 year school reunion. We were all the same age (being the same school year) but as I surveyed the assembled crowd, it occurred to me that had I been asked to guess the age range within the room, I would have estimated a 20 year age range. A few looked truly fabulous (funnily enough these were the women who now lived in California, Colorado and New York!). Some of us (and I include myself ) looked very good for our age, and some, sadly, looked nearly as old as some of our former teachers who were also present.
I've always thought that one's genetic age is not necessarily the same as one's chronological age, and it seems that recent scientific research backs this up. There is something called insulin-like growth factor, and this escalates the ageing process. Short people are lacking this factor (which makes them short), but the brilliant upside is that we age more slowly . I am a petite 5' 0" and generally thought to be several years younger than I am. My paternal grand-mother was also very dinky, and was a ball of energy and youthfulness who lived to be 100+. Think about dinky people (Lulu? Kylie?) They offer evidence in support of this theory too.
Attitude is also a big factor in how aged we appear. I'm horrified by people of my age - and younger- who go on about being "too old" to do all sorts of things. Cop out! Very sad, but some people seem to like the excuse of age to not bother any more. Not me! I'll never be "too old"

Fascinating comments. I've always thought that health, wealth and genetics were factors but never considered height. However, my Mums side of the family have a good history of long life and looking young for their age with very little wealth and often poor health, but they are all on the petite side. Shame I am a lot taller, like my Dad.