Respect your elders

A friend of mine's Grandfather will be 104 in July. He still lives at home alone, and still drives. However his daughters (in their 70's) do his shopping and housecleaning for him. He doesn't walk very good, but mentally he's sharper than I am.

A few years ago Grandpa John had a heart problem and had to be taken to the hospital. His heart rate was 20. With a heart rate of 20 you shouldn't be conscious, but he was smiling and joking and just his regular old self. The guy who was doing his paperwork came over to him to ask him some questions. Name, insurance, address, that sort of thing.

When they came to his birthday he said: "July 6, 1915." The paperwork guy wrote it down, then did a double take. He looked at the form, and looked at Grandpa John. Then he stuck out his hand to shake. "You're my first!" he said. Grandpa John grinned at him, shook his hand, and said "Congratulations!"

His heart rate was still 20. Everyone was shocked he was still conscious. That evening he had a pacemaker installed. Still doing great, and is one of the nicest people you'd ever want to know. Looks like a guy in his 80's in good health.

@Tarmaque That's awesome. My great grandmother died in 2012 when she was 102. And her husband died 10 years earlier when he was 98
If you get the chance, say hi to grandpa john from me (a random person that read this in the middle of a science class in Norway.)

@Heimdall Please pay attention in school. That's more important than writing comments to online comics.

@Eldkatten Thanks for your concern, but i got bored in that class cause we were learning about how fires work. Both my parents work with fire and rescue, so i already knew everything we were supposed to learn. (even teaching the teacher when she said something to wrong)

@Heimdall I will do so, although I somehow doubt he'll know who "Heimdall" is! (Are you the real Heimdall? Can you see all the nine realms? Do you watch me in the shower?)

@Tarmaque I doubt the real Heimdall would need to sit in a science class in Norway. I simply changed my name after him because it fit better, thanks to my keen eyesight and ability to protect the ones I care about.

@Heimdall Some advice: Beware Titans bearing gauntlets.

@Tarmaque I’ll be sure to look out for any titans bearing gauntlets

@Tarmaque My step-dad's grandparents died about 15 years ago. My step great granddad was 92 and ran a farm up 'till about 6 months before he died. His children (all in their mid 50's through late 70's) convinced him to sell everything and relax. He died because he had nothing to do. His wife, my step great grandmother, died about 6 months after he did because she didn't have to take care of him anymore. I forget exactly how old she was, but she was in her late 80's.

To be fair though, she had had a LOT of health issues. Even before he died, she spent most of her time sitting in a recliner. I think most of us were shocked she held on as long as she did. As for him, I know he would have lasted longer had he been able to keep his cattle because he spent so much time taking care of them.

They worked on that farm every day since they were married back when they were both around 17.

@Tarmaque My Grandma passed away almost 2 years ago, a month and a half away from her 101st birthday. She was the most AMAZING woman and most people couldn't believe that she was more than 80 or 85. She could barely hear, or see (macular degeneration), but she still lived in her own house, she still sewed (by FEEL) on her old Singer factory machine (she was a seamstress her WHOLE life), and she still told the best stories. She had outlived all of her 4 siblings, her husband, her man-friend (after my Grandpa died), and most of her friends. She was smart as a whip and wise as could be, but only had formal schooling to 8th grade. People like her and your Grandpa John are rare people indeed. <3

@songbird2384 My own Grandfather (one of them) fought in WWII, then came back and worked in plywood mills the rest of his life. He retired at 67, and didn't do much anymore but lay on the couch and read and watch TV. I watched him slowly get weaker and weaker, went through a bout of throat cancer and lip cancer (he chewed tobacco his whole life) and finally die at the age of about 75. If you don't move, you die.

On the other hand, Grandpa John has been retired for more than 30 years. Back about 10 years (he was 94ish) we had to chase him down off the roof of his 2-story house. He was cleaning the gutters! A few years later his wife died at the age of 97. She's buried in the cemetery a couple blocks from his house. They were married for over 75 years! He still wears her wedding ring on a chain around his neck, and when the weather is nice he walks (staggers) over to visit her a few times a week. For five or six years he visited her every day, until walking got too difficult for him.

@Tarmaque yo I pretty sure he's of Númenorian descent.

@icelander98 Possibly.

@Tarmaque prolly means your friend is eligible to retake Minas Tirith.

@icelander98 Truth be told, he's more like an old Gaffer hoeing potatoes.

Sorry Japan if we’re going by that logic, I believe Egypt has people who are thousands of years old!

@Bluesamurai That is a lot of pension ^^;

@DragonFluff IKR!!!

I wonder how much effect this has on the life expectancy statistics.

@blahblahblahblah As I recall, it actually did lower Japan's maximum life expectancy by a few years.

@blahblahblahblah according to this, https://www.demographic-research.org/Volumes/Vol26/11/26-11.pdf it was effectively nil

@kaiken1987 Not sure I understand well how life expectancy is measured (which is an essential part in understanding how they measured that 0.5% difference and how it would affect life expectancy)... Do you happen to know that ?

@blahblahblahblah I gotta remember to read all the EXISTING comments before chiming in to carelessly repeat one. :8)

Would have been a perfect week to do a comic about the covert Russian Beluga whale that defected to Norway.

I just checked, my 103 year-old grandmother is still going strong! The 94 year-old one is still good, too. :-)

@Dorsai
Good that you're checking!

I won't have that problem. My animals will eat me.

@Rosin Ah, the modern world's version of the Tibetan sky-burial.

I read about this when it was happening. There was even one guy that carried his moms remains around in a backpack. (After he dried out the body and cleaned up the bones...)

Today, on spanish TV, a woman celebrated her 112 birthday. looked in good enough health, and asked the camera guy to "get her nice looking" They said Spain was the second world place for elders, behind... Japan. Not anymore?

So... is Japan still the country of centenarians?

Ehh.. Happens everywhere. Pension scam is old trick.