I like this one from singer Diana Ross:

“Instead of looking at the past, I put myself ahead twenty years and try to look at what I need to do now in order to get there then.”

Good thinking, eh? I suppose from the day we start our pension pot we are looking ahead to the future, but at that time our old age is but a blot on the distant horizon.  Now for me, the blot is coming a little nearer.  In 20 years time, should I live that long, I shall be 80 years of age, and I’d like to think that all my years of early morning Pilates and healthy eating might have then started to pay off!

Who knows?  The body always wins out in the end, but what I’d like in my old age is not to be like my poor mother was in her last years; helpless and finally bedridden and dependent on others for personal care and day to day tasks.  My aim is to be (hopefully with Sam still alive too) in a little retirement flat in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, not too far from my sons.  I’ll have the shops nearby, and with a bit of luck might still be able to walk there and buy my groceries rather than having to drive.

Nobody can be sure what life is going to throw at us, but it’s best to prepare for old age in advance.  Dot used to say ‘everything in moderation’, and I think that’s good advice.  I look forward to being a little old lady mooching around the market or around the Isle of Wight with Sam, still enjoying my grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and keeping my brain active by still writing stories when I can think of them!

What are you doing to prepare for old age?