Life is made up of transitions that all of us who are fortunate enough will go through. I won’t go over all of them here, as that would take too much time. The one this post is about is the second to last one, which is old age.

As we go through life, or at least the second half of it, the more we push back “Old Age”. At midlife, old age is usually defined as the 60s. Then in our 60s, it becomes the 80s. It seems none of us are really prepared for the transition into old age.

I have finally come to admit that I am old, and have been for quite some time.

Now that I am ready to admit it, I think when I turned 70 is when being old finally hit me. Things were just getting harder to do. Some things no longer were worth doing, and for others I no longer have the mental capacity. Yeah, I am now losing both physical and mental stamina that I once had.

At this stage in life, facing the loss of friends and family is almost a monthly occurrence. Of course, the most striking loss is of a spouse. I still haven’t fully come to the realization that my wife died a couple of years ago, or even that my father died 23 years ago. My older brother died last year, soon after my visit to him. We had all the intentions of staying in touch more frequently, but of course, that didn’t happen

At this stage in life, refusing to embrace your own mortality is no longer an option. But still, some do just that and therefore put their end-of-life duties on others who survive them. The one thing that I have not really embraced yet is the last stage of life, and that is the dying process. We all have to die of something. Heart attacks and cancer are the most likely causes.

For my bloodline, it is usually cancer. Presently, I believe that I will forgo surgery and just let things take their course if my cause of death is to be cancer. Despite my handicaps, I have lived a full and satisfying life, and don’t want to end it with numerous surgeries and unending bed rest.

I don’t fear death, but…