> It's never been my impression that people stop doing things. It's just that they eventually quit working for a particular company and now work at doing other things.
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> After my grandmother retired, she helped buy and refurbish a church that had gone bankrupt in their very small town, and now she is the assistant pastor.
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> My grandfather is an avid golfer and has a workshop (larger than their house) where he builds wooden toys--beautiful model cars and airplanes out of different woods. He doesn't paint them, just sands them to a shine and lets the wood speak for itself. He also makes the occasional knicknack or piece of furniture.
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> Anti"I'm using a leather footstool he made as I type."Entropy

Not many generations back, people who lasted long enough to retire were just about used up. Work was really hard, and we didn't know much about taking care of ourselves.

But today, your grandparents are typical of their generation. I expect the trend to continue. Your generation may well live to be 100 and remain active even longer than we do now.

There were always a few who defied the odds. One that comes to mind is my wife's mother who is almost 90, lived and worked on a farm all her life and is still going strong. My grandfather was a preacher, never drank or smoked, and like most people in his day, lived on a farm. He was still walking three miles a day until he was 95. Old age got him at 97. His doctor said he wasn't sick, just old.

But those are exceptions. 50 years from now, that might be the norm.
Howard