“She lived to a ripe old age” is a saying I have heard before.
How old is a ripe old age? I saw a post this morning about a French woman named Jeanne Louise Calment who lived to be 122 years old. She smoked cigarettes and drank wine and ate olives. She rode her bicycle until she was 115.
Some people I know would like to live that long, but I feel that would be more of a curse than a blessing. By living that long you would attend far too many funerals for those whom you knew and loved. In Jeanne’s last years she could no longer see or hear well and moving about was difficult. She had outlived husbands and children by many years. I lost one wife and no children. That was a heartbreak that I would never want to repeat, but Jeanne went through the process several times.
I’ll pass on living anywhere near that long. By the time I may hit 80 I’ll no longer want to drive (That’s if I continue driving that long). I hope I am still functional at 80. Beyond 82 is a curse in my thinking, not a blessing.
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