When do you come from? (How old are you?)

[Rahul]

Wow, your maths skills are worse than mine; and I'm only 43. My prophecy skills, on the other hand, are right on the money - trust me, the cage fight between the Jesus clone and cyberHitler on pay-per-view in 2021 will be well worth catching.

But...

You said you were 69 and that was also the year you were born.

1969 + 69 = 2038

[Whateverist]

Anyone else remember 1953? Anyone? Anyone? Gotta picture of me in a Davy Crockett hat around here somewhere.

Interesting that we have no further distinctions after 60. Personally, 80 looks pretty different from where I sit - lots of doddering to do, not much else. Another decade after that and if you're not already mulch, you're likely to be only intermittently conscious provided the holes in your head don't outnumber the remaining neurons.

[Rahul]

My granddad died at 92 and he was very active and mentally nimble until he got sick the last few months he was alive.

[Whateverist]

My father-in-law just died a year ago a few days shy of 97. He built a house on land which has since gone back to the Point Reyes National Seashore in a small community of about 12 houses where he and his wife were the only full time residents. He always made a vegetable garden every year and when we visited we'd gather either peas or italian beans for dinner from his garden while he grilled whatever was for dinner. He also supervised the harvesting of the trees which would fall blocking the mile and an eighth access road in, and he drove around with a chainsaw in the back of his truck to clear the way as necessary right up until he moved to town when he turned 90. While he was there he bought and restored an old Monterey fishing boat and acquired a fishing license. He caught crab and salmon, sadly, before I met his daughter. A few years after moving to town, his brain started to fail. A waitress at his favorite restaurant got us aside to tell us he was coming in three times in a day to order lunch. That and he was becoming annoying repetitious in his story telling. Guess that is what we have to look forward to if nothing gets us sooner.

[Rahul]

My father-in-law just died a year ago a few days shy of 97. He built a house on land which has since gone back to the Point Reyes National Seashore in a small community of about 12 houses where he and his wife were the only full time residents. He always made a vegetable garden every year and when we visited we'd gather either peas or italian beans for dinner from his garden while he grilled whatever was for dinner. He also supervised the harvesting of the trees which would fall blocking the mile and an eighth access road in, and he drove around with a chainsaw in the back of his truck to clear the way as necessary right up until he moved to town when he turned 90. While he was there he bought and restored an old Monterey fishing boat and acquired a fishing license. He caught crab and salmon, sadly, before I met his daughter. A few years after moving to town, his brain started to fail. A waitress at his favorite restaurant got us aside to tell us he was coming in three times in a day to order lunch. That and he was becoming annoying repetitious in his story telling. Guess that is what we have to look forward to if nothing gets us sooner.

That's the way I want to go. Robust health and a sharp mind until the last little, tiny part of my life. Then a rapid decline ending in death a few months later.

I don't want to get dementia and linger for years not recognizing my children. The idea horrifies me. If I lose my mind just put me down.

[Mystical]

I agree. Just put me down. I honestly think the key to dying well is living well and most importantly--eating well. The second I can get a place with a yard (or even a balcony), I'm growin my own food and stuff. Stir fry for life? Hells yes!

[Rahul]

When one of my grandmothers died she started to go mentally. My brother went to go visit her and she though he was me. She told him that I looked so much better now that I had put on some weight (my brother has always tended to get overweight where I've always been slender) and that I had always been her favorite grandchild. My brother rolled his eyes and said, "Alright grandma. I gotta go."

She started dreaming every night that her long dead mother was getting into bed with her every night. Then she died in her sleep of congestive heart failure.

[Edwardo Piet]

I don't want to get dementia and linger for years not recognizing my children. The idea horrifies me. If I lose my mind just put me down.

I'm sure I'd be happy either way.

[NoraBrimstone]

The people you love suddenly not knowing you is one of the worst feelings.

The day my mother died, when they'd decided there was nothing to do but heavily sedate her take her off the ventilator and wait for her to basically suffocate on a tumour, the specialist took my sister and I into a room to explain it all. I don't remember most of what she said all that well, but at some point she said to us "We'll give you some time with her to say goodbye while she still knows who you are." Of all of the events of that day, that one sentence is the memory that's the most likely to make me cry even now, nearly 10 years later.

I think I'd rather suffer a death that was sudden than put my loved ones through anything resemling that feeling.

[Mystical]

I used to volunteer in a nursing home after school every day just so I could spend time with my mom on her shift. Its surreal walking those halls, wondering which type you'll be. I called lots of them grandma and visited them till the end. I also got beat up by a supernaturally strong fit old woman named Charlie who was trying to escape! Most of the time though Charlie just dragged a dementia patient around, and called her George. I found them many a time dressed up coats and suitcases and all, waiting for the train to come. Or in bed together? There were so, so many lives and stories I got to learn about I am happy for the experience. I just hope I don't end up as a crazy ladies bitch though.