After a two or three hour interview, you begin to feel like you know a person.
I've made many new friends gathering stories for the newspaper, and I have to say I find the older folks the most interesting.
What is it like to live 90 or 100 years? Do you ever get tired and just want it to be over? I'm sure some do.
Living long is not necessarily living well, but most of the folks I've talked to who've lived a long time seem pretty content.
Particularly if they've got people in their life to check on them.
I think loneliness would be the hardest part of growing old, and I say that as a person who has always enjoyed time to myself.
But to outlive many of your family and friends and end up alone for the last years of one's life must be hard.
So, as I gather stories, I'm also taking mental notes on how to live successfully as a senior, just in case I ever become one.
Be adaptable, keep active,be thankful, have faith...these are themes I hear among the elderly most often, I think.
And, I notice that people don't talk much about lost possessions, but they do talk about losing loved ones. Those are the heartaches that they always carry.
And that should give us some insight into how to spend our days.
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