<p>I suspect one or two of us on here are approaching (I’ll never say surpassed) the 0.5 century mark. I’m coming up on it myself and I’m curious to see how everyone is doing vis a vis our parents at this stage.</p>
<p>For me, I’m in much better physical condition than my father, a WWII infantry vet and life-long educator. Seems as soon as he left the Army in 194- he stopped exercising. I’m also a lot closer to my kids, and will show affection readily, where the prior generation (at least in my family) was very restrained. In fact, I remember my father relating advice given to him by my grandmother, which was not to become so attached to children - due to losses from disease and so forth. He was more affectionate than the prior generation, apparently.</p>
<p>Sorry, no arguing or bickering here; just curiosity. :)</p>
<p>Well, I’m doing much better than my father, who was dead two years at my age…</p>
<p>I’m probably in better shape than my mom at my age (49), but since she’d been widowed at 43, the fact that she just kept as fed and under a roof keeps me in awe of her, and I don’t try to compare how perfectly she did so.</p>
<p>At 77 now, she’s independent and sharp as a tack; I hope I am then, too.</p>
<p>I’m rapidly approaching five-oh (later in the week, actually) and am experiencing a huge disconnect between that number and how I feel. I am probably in the best shape of my life (I have become a gym rat) and like to think I look pretty good “considering”. That being said, I got home today after being away for several days, looked at the pile of mail, and there was a letter and membership card for me from the AARP! Ugh.</p>
<p>I’m on the tail end of the baby, and at my age, my dad was still raising babies, and one more was yet to come. EEP! (Mom was a little younger).</p>
<p>My parents were definitely better off financially in retirement than about half of their brood will be, despite having had a lot more children to rear along the way.</p>
<p>My paternal grandfather in his late 70s could carry a big Evinrude outboard motor in either hand from the front yard to the back yard. The man literally never sat, except in a car, church, to play his banjo or eat a meal. He used to say, “Sit?!! I’ll sit when Jake Schoen [the local undertaker] puts me in the ground!”</p>
<p>I am in better shape than my dad was at my age, but then he was shot and then captured during WWII and spent nearly 4 years rotting in a Japanese POW camp – which he came out of at war’s end with no teeth left and weighing less than 100 lbs (at 6 ft tall). By comparison I’ve led a life of luxury and good nutrition with my ease interupted only by voluntary exercise.</p>
<p>I can only hope that I am half as lively as my parents are at their current age of 80. It is tough to keep up with them now.</p>
<p>My father retired at 75. He has taught himself to read ancient Greek pretty well, and whips off the NYT crossword puzzle in pen in about an hour. He still hikes, but gave up mountain climbing. He got his pilot’s license at 72, bought his first Cherokee plane at 74, and was instrument rated at 76. He is the most meticulous pilot! My kids love picking my parents up at our little local airport, after watching them take their headsets off and climb out of that little plane with an overnight bag. </p>
<p>But he is the less active of the two.
My mother has an exhausting number of activities that help so many people, including running a soup kitchen, a religious education program, and teaching prisoners to read, and on and on!</p>
<p>It sounds like I’m bragging about them, and I guess I am! But somehow it feels better than if it was my kids, lol!</p>
<p>Anyways, parent2, I’m not doing so well when I just compare myself to those two. Maybe someday…</p>
<p>I am 52. My mother had me at 40 and my father was 48. Daddy died at 70 (lung cancer, he smoked 3 packs a day of Chesterfields until he was 67) and my mother was 86 when she died four years ago. She had emphysema and COPD. One big thing I’m doing for my health is not smoking ;-)</p>
<p>My siblings range in age from 76 (half brother) to my nearest sister, who is 56. We’re all pretty healthy, although my brother had kidney stones and I just had a low-grade bone cancer (chondrosarcoma) removed. We all walk a LOT, which is a habit we got from my father, who liked to walk to work and though an evening walk was a pleasure (despite the smoking).</p>
<p>Interesting story coureur. My father was in the China-Burma-India theater and left the US weighing some 150 lbs in excellent physical condition. After two years in the field he came back to the US afflicted with malaria, worms, scabies (etc) and weighed about 90 lbs. He spent months in military hospitals until he was allowed to come home, where he met my mom - who was a WAVE at the Pensacola NAS (an engineering tech of all things). She’d since gone on to be a federal home extension agent who passed through my father’s town.</p>
<p>They moved to Florida in the 1940s due to my dad’s malaria, thinking a warmer climate was easier to live in so afflicted. Thus I came to be a Floridian. They lived in the UF FlaVets trailer park until he finished a masters, then taught school.</p>
<p>I’ve outlived my mother (she was a month shy of 54)! If I make it to 60 I’ll have outlived 3/4 of my grandparents. The 2(+/-) ppd of unfiltered Pall Malls added to her other risk factors did my mother in- her indigestion was really heart pain… Per H, only the good die young- I may outlast my 80 yo father.</p>
<p>Life at any age is better when teenagers leave for college- daily stress levels drop…</p>
<p>I think the previous generation(s) in my family is much healthier, I guess people don’t have to deal with a lot of stress from work, modern living, polution, etc…
My grandfather on my father side was robust, lived healthily until early 90’s( without taken any pills). My father never had to wear glasses in his whole life, mentally, he was very sharp until late 70s, ie he went back to school and got his degree in CS at the age of 74.
On my husband’s side, one of his parents is in the early 80’s and the other one is near 90 without having to spend anytime in the hospital, except the time his mom had to give birth.
I look at this generation, kids/adults are not as healthy.</p>
<p>I know I have eaten way more fast food than my parents ever did. Bad, I know and have cut way down on the evil french fries since my kids have gotten older and every meal out does not have to be at a place that serves happy meals. I don’t smoke and try to exercise fairly regularly which my parents never did although at 45, I am far from being in the best shape of my life.</p>
<p>My father was a lifelong smoker and died of a heart attack at 53.<br>
Mother died at 78 from pulmonary hypertension and scleroderma. </p>
<p>They never got to spend those 'golden years" together. I hope H and I can get there in reasonably good health. His parents are not in great shape either. My kids have never known what it’s like to have “active” grandparents that were able to come to ballgames, concerts, baptisms, graduations,vacations etc. My wish is that H and I will be in good enough shape to be able to be active when our 2 S’s are adults and have kids of their own.</p>
<p>^Two of you have mentioned smoking as the reason for early loss of a parent. that was the cause of my father’s death at 47, too. Actually, a lethal combination of 3 ppd, added to a whole lot of bourbon.</p>
<p>Interesting stories! Mom had her last child at 37 (me). I had my first at 37, second at 41. Both parents smoked heavily (I gave up my 3 pack a day habit before getting pregnant) and drank four martinis daily. (I’m a 1.5 glass chardonnay girl myself)…In spite of her lifestyle (exercise was half hour of Jack LaLanne on WOR-TV) Mom lived to be 87. Dad unfortunately died of lung cancer at 67. I guess I’m on the right track.</p>
<p>My H is one of the leading-edge boomers (1946 baby). He’s in pretty good health, doesn’t smoke, but somewhat overweight and high-stress job. His father will be 93 in Sept.! He lives on his own, does his own laundry, cooking, housework, and has a garden he did all by himself. He works in the garden for half an hour at a time and then rests for half an hour. He’s still sharp mentally and can tell the best stories about his youth–driving a car at age ten, hauling hootch during Prohibition! I hope my H is doing so well at age 92.</p>
<p>My mom is 77 and doing well, but has diabetes and is starting kidney trouble. Good lifestyle but too many sweets and not much exercise. She gave up gardening when she retired to Florida. Excuse me, I think I need to go work in the garden now. ;)</p>
<p>Nice thing about this thread -finding out others are in the same situations. I had my only child at 36- gotta meet the right guy, and then have mother nature cooperate (even with modern medicine)… There’s probably a 20 year or so age gap in parents on CC- some of us could be some of your parents!</p>