There really is a huge range of when someone dies of old age, so I think there should be an equally wide range for midlife. I know intellectually that I am midlife-ish (resistant to the end!), I'm 48,so no young chick. But - middle aged, that doesn't seem to fit the spirit. The body, yeah - I'm not in the best of shape (I'm working on improving that, though), lots of aches and pains, need reading glasses (just got them, but really needed them for a year or two.) My only child is in college - yet I feel youngish. I feel like my parents are middle-aged, yet they are 76.
OTOH, my fil died at 78... And it really was old age for him - his body had worn out, he was tired of fighting, it was his time. But although when I was a kid, it would have seemed old, it now seems so - young!
Perhaps midlife is something you can only recognize once you are past it.
