Well, unfortunetly I have a scewed view-I see old people all the time in the ER and they tell me all of the time things like "These golden years arn't so golden" and "Getting old isn't for sissys" and I see the crippling and the pains and the unable to care for's and a whole lotta not nice. So I have to remind myself that for now, today I got to take care of myself-some changes are inevitable as we age, but I can control alot of it if I want to (although my mother had an accident at work, broke her back and it aged her alot. She had to work incredibly hard to rehabilitate. Part of the consequences was she also ended up having bilat hip replacements-again worked incredibly hard to rehab but she has aged-otherwise, she would be in a wheelchair now)
I have to remember there are older folks in good health out there still enjoying life-going back to school, traveling (did you see about the 75 year old female bodybuilder? Wow, what an inspiration!) and I can CHOOSE to do that/be that it doesn't have to be all doom and gloom.
I also would like to break some stereotypes around "old" people and what is acceptable for them to do/not do. I can mosh at an Avenged Sevenfold concert and the rest of the world bedamned.
The bottom line is this is your/my life. Make it what you will given what you have. Age is just a number and yet it is very real. It is so much in how you think about it. Sometimes I think of that song by Pink Floyd (time?) And then one day you'll find, ten years has gone behind you, no one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun. And later-shorter of breath and one day closer to death. Yup, that be all of us. Better get busy living, or get busy dying. Sorry about going on but I know I have some issues around aging and this was good to clarify/remind myself.
Have a good day