Age

Prompted by the Althouse post on how old we look, I calculated my own longevity compared to my mother's. I passed her three days ago.  I knew it was sometime this month, but hadn't been exact.

When she was 58 she looked in her early 40s - and she had a second husband who was 70, so he was widely regarded as having been very lucky.  He was, in more ways than one. And as much as I had conflicts with the man, I have to say she was lucky also. She had chemo at 59 and 66 before foregoing a third series at 70, and died short of her 71st. He outlived her by 12 more years.

I won't pass my father for more than five more years. He smoked two packs of Lucky nonfilters a day, drank too much, and did not eat carefully. But when he had his first heart attack at 64 he was at the doctor's office at Lahey Clinic and had multiple bypass surgeries within a few hours. Life isn't fair, but sometimes the unfairness is in your favor.