BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Inspiration WHEN ARE YOU TOO OLD?

When asked how it was that she has lived so long, one 91-year-old woman replied, "I think God is testing the patience of my relatives."

When is "too old"? At what age do we give up? At 100, Grandma Moses was still painting, and Titian painted "Battle of Lepants" when he was 98.

At 93, George Bernard Shaw wrote "Farfetched Fables."

At 91, Eamon de Valera served as president of Ireland.

At 90, Pablo Picasso still drew and engraved.

At 89, Arthur Rubinstein gave one of his greatest recitals in New York's Carnegie Hall, and Pablo Casals, at 88, still performed cello concerts.

At 82, Winston Churchill wrote the four-volume work, "A History of the English-Speaking Peoples," Leo Tolstoy completed "I Cannot Be Silent," and Goethe, at the same age, finished "Faust."

At 81, Benjamin Franklin engineered the diplomacy, which led to the adoption of the U.S. Constitution.

When are you "too old"? Only on the day when you truly have nothing left to give. And the good news is this: that day never has to arrive!

>>From Steve Goodier's ONE MINUTE CAN CHANGE A LIFE

At 98 my grandfather was telling jokes that had the nurse laughing as she got him into bed- the night he died.

At 93 my Aunt was still taking care of the people in the small town she lived in and in her church when she died of complications from a surgery she'd had years earlier. (Not old age)

The moral is: Keeping living until your Creator takes you home.

Thanks Computer Games and Lynne, I really enjoyed what you shared about growing older. It made me think of something that Mary Baker Eddy writes, "Never record ages. Chronological data are no part of the vast forever. Time-tables of birth and death are so many conspiracies against manhood and womanhood. Except for the error of measuring and limiting all that is good and beautiful, man would enjoy more than threescore years and ten and still maintain his vigor, freshness, and promise. Man, governed by immortal Mind, is always beautiful and grand. Each succeeding year unfolds wisdom, beauty,and holiness. (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures)"

Yup my great-aunt and great-uncle are both 85 and very active. My great-uncle trained bomber pilots in WW2 and still owns a plane, and still flies it out a runway he put into his farm in his back yard.