How Old is Old?

I read last week that the oldest living person died. She was 116 years old; not lacking many days before she reached 117. 

She was the last American living who had been born in the 1800's. 

For some reason, that gave me chills. I don't even know why. 

To my best mathematical ability (which is almost nonexistent) that means she was born in July of 1899. She was only four years younger than my grandfather, who died at age 87 in 1982. 

Wow.

Now the oldest living person, also 116, lives in France.

Most of us won't be around that long, and will be fortunate to make it to our eighties. My family seems to live to around 87, for some reason. 

I hear people talk about lifespans of years ago, and how it wasn't for very long, and I'm sure that's true when you average it all together. When you  include plagues taking out babies and average that with death in childbirth, etc., we fail to see many people even "way back when", still lived to be over a hundred.

In fact, people have been doing that since the beginning time. (And then some, in the beginning.) 

But it's still a rarity, that's for sure. 

I have a friend whose grandmother lived to be well over one hundred, and she firmly states she doesn't want to hang around that long. Her grandmother's body was strong long after her mind was not. 

I reckon none of us want to be here with our mind shot: not knowing our own children, or saying terrible things that in our right mind would have never said.

Nor do we want to be in terrible physical shape with our minds staying alert and aware of the agony it's bringing to us and our loved ones.

So, although we admire those folks that finish the race way over the hundred year mark, perhaps most of them would have rather not. I don't know.

Right now I'm in a considerable amount of pain at age sixty-two. I can't imagine going on like this (and likely worsening as time goes by) for forty plus more years.

Come, Lord Jesus, come!