Elderly But Not Old

I saw a comment by someone recently that said while she is elderly, she is not old 

One term, I believe, refers to chronological age, while the second seems to apply to psychological age. So while I may be considered elderly in chronological age, I certainly do not consider myself to be old.

Physically, I am not as strong as I used to be. I gave up running, something I enjoyed for more than 30 years, a dozen or so years ago because I simply no longer had the energy to run. But I still walk 4 miles every day. I have arthritis in my hands and one elbow, but aside from vision problems unrelated to age, I am pretty healthy.

Unlike my parents and grandparents, I don't spend my days sitting on the porch or in a chair inside, doing nothing. I am a voracious reader. My Kindle is loaded with some 300 e-books. I write. I stay up to date on current events around the world, as distressing as that often is. I love to travel and I am passionate about photography. So I am not mentally old.

In the meantime, I will try to avoid the curse of dementia. I know how terrible it was to know someone who suffered from dementia. My grandmother didn't recognize her own son (my father). I refused to visit her in the facility where she lived at the end of her life. I knew she wouldn't know who I was, and seeing her in that condition would have been very painful for me. So I chose to remember her as she was in better days.

My mother died before reaching that stage of dementia, but she would 'see' my uncle when he wasn't there, and even have one-sided conversations with him.

With a history of Alzheimer's disease and dementia on both sides of my family, I am doing everything I can to stave off this horrible disease. Do I forget certain words sometimes? I admit that I do. And it worries me. But occasional forgetfulness is a common sign of aging, so I am not panicking.

Will I be successful in holding off this terrible disease? Only time will tell. In the meantime, I will keep do everything I can to keep it away.