How long do you want to live?

You guys know that I read a lot of other blogs, they range from personal finance to weight loss to parenting blogs. All equally interesting and all backing up in my reader...I gotta really read quicker. Anyway in some of the blogs, I've been reading about the "healthy lifestyle" and how people pursue this not only to feel better and feel slimmer, but to LIVE LONGER.

So I thought, well it's obviously not to die immaturely, but to actually live longer.

Let me plug my own two cents into the action here. According to the CIA World Factbook 2007 Estimates for Life Expectancy at Birth, the average American life span is 77.5-80, while the average Mongolian life span is 65-67.5. That's more than ten years apart. I understand that both genetics AND lifestyle contribute to this, but I guess also where you live matters as well.

If I'm a Mongolian who spent half of her life so far in Mongolia leading that lifestyle, and now I live in America leading this lifestyle as well...I think that puts me at possibly 70? Well I'm just fine and dandy with that...me dying at 70. I know the topic is quite morose, but I'm only speaking of stats here. Like I said before, nobody would like to go at 35 and this is not about health causing premature death - it's about how long you actually want to live.

I'm scared of my coming old age...getting old, sick and senile is what gets me. I paid my way through college working as a CNA, if you don't know what that is...good! It's not a glamorous job, literally shoveling S#%T , but like any other disliked job, it paid the bills. Therefore, I know firsthand the troubles of the old...Alzheimer's, cancer, dementia, countless others. Your family either puts you in a nursing home or pass off the care to a stranger, like myself. I never thought about this stuff, until I saw how the senile, sick old age can suck out not only your life but all that makes you YOU.

I don't want to live SO long that I don't know who I am or who my loved ones are, that I can't get out of bed or move....so long that I become a burden to someone because I can't care for myself. I want to go eat pancakes, go to the Y at 5am with the other seniors, play my Sunday crosswords, and host Thanksgiving and Easter at my house with my children and grandchildren, and to actually remember all their names and birthdays. So I'd take 70 any day. I suppose it's taboo, maybe, but I'm sure you think about it too. How long do you want to live?

For fun, you can calculate your life expectancy and virtual age, I don't know how accurate it is...but try it out here.