>>My dad went the same way (21 years ago), and oddly enough, at the same age of 76. He and my mom went bowling, came home, went to bed, and he didn't wake up.
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>>My mother is 87 now, she's somewhat weak and all, but thankfully retains all her mental faculties. It's a little hard to tell sometimes because her hearing is not so good, and even though she wears a hearing aid, she still sometimes has trouble hearing what I say. However, she does the daily crossword in the newspaper in under 6 minutes and is aiming to get it under 5. The best present she can be given is still a good book.
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>My mom is just now learning to cope. She's moved from the farm to live with me, then my brother, then to the house they had in Memphis, then back to the farm, then with my brother, then sold the house in Memphis and moved back to the farm. I told her to just do what she wanted. Live with us a while, stay at the farm a while, etc. until she figured it out, and that's what she did. Now, she seems to have reconciled everything and lives on the farm. She's active in the choir and goes here and there. She water skied last month while vacationing with my brother and his crew. She's 80 years old, but doesn't know it. She used to race my kids up until about 10 years ago. She quit because they were getting close to beating her!

That's really great. I wish my mother had been more active, but she's always had a bit of a bad back, and that was her excuse for not being too active. Now, of course, it has caught up with her. She has to use a walker to go very far, but at least her mind is still sharp.

If nothing else, it's a lesson for me. I'm in the process of losing weight and trying to be more active than I've been for a while.

You know, it's hard. When I was young, I was into most sports including some gymnastics. Kip-ups were easy, back flips over a box horse were easy. Now getting out of a chair is hard. ;) Well, I haven't gotten quite that bad yet, but this getting older crap is really for the birds.