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Lisa R's avatar

Came here to say similar to an earlier commenter — my parents were 37 and 41 when I was born (youngest of 4 kids). My husband is also the youngest of parents similarly aged. My dad lived to see my first four born, but as I was 30 when I started having children, and neither of my parents were in great health, and my in-laws also are not healthy (one developed dementia a few years ago), we are on our own with five kids under 8. None of our parents could pick up our toddlers once they hit 75. My husband and I have a primary goal to stay as strong and fit as possible so we can be present and active for our kids when they start having families. So weight lifting, cardiac health, good food so we’re not packing extra pounds around. Sunlight etc. The best retirement plan in the world can’t buy you health at 60 if you haven’t done the work at 30, 40, and 50. Edited to add: my parents were amazing in so many ways. Their health in some ways reflects the generational shift in America from farm labor to sedentary intellectual work (thanks car-centric urban planning), without a lot of the knowledge we have now about good diet and activity. I don’t blame them at all for where they ended up physically. I just want to be able to do more for my own kids, and pass on the many gifts they gave me!

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Lisa Glenn's avatar

Grandmother of five, I recently retired to be more available to my geographically close and far children and grandchildren. My final calculation was the fact that I had enough. I could have continued to work and had “more” but at the cost of missing some of the moments I’m now able to see. None of us are promised tomorrow.

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