“I hope not”? How could she hope not?
I hadn’t so much as made senior citizen status yet. I was healthy, had all my faculties and wits about me. I wanted to live. Had many reasons to want to live.
Mother was “stuck” in a nursing facility, confined to a wheelchair, never knew what day, month or year it was. The list was endless. And I’m telling her she could live another 10 years if she followed her doctor’s instructions?
Now, I realize I wouldn’t want to live two more days under those circumstances. What I didn’t understand then, I comprehend now. Like mother, I do not want to outlive my life either.