Good genes and resilience....often people with difficult lives live to be quite old too...so it can't be cushy lives.

People from long ago did live long lives IF they survived the biggest killer back then. Infectious disease. TB, typhoid, influenza, diptheria, tetanus, botulism, measles, mumps, rubella, small pox and the variety of plagues.

We have to look at how statistics are gathered. There is the 'mean' which means average. One person living to 100 will skew it to old age...Infant mortality was high back then, so infants, kids under 5 died in droves, so the mean got skewed to the younger age of death. The mean is an average.

If you survived to 5 your chances were a lot better. For women if you survived childbearing years, your life span chances were improved. If men survived war, they had a shot at growing old.

If we look at the 'median' it takes out the skewing factor of the very young or very old deaths. It is a better statistic. Median is like an average, but with the skews taken out.

The 'mode' gives you the best info...Mode is the breakdown or block of numbers dying in an age range. You would see a big block of death from brith to age 5. Then another one in females around childbearing ages...and men in war related death. If you hit 40, you had a good shot at 70.

Obesity was less common, so we had less of that, so probably less cardiac, diabetes, stroke. I wonder about cancer...we really don't know if cancer rates are any different, as cancer wasn't always diagnosed.

People ate less, and worked more, had family and community support systems right around them.

I have read that most people live well into their 70's barring accidents or hereditary disease. Infection is much less of a concern now, except for resistant 'germs'. I have read that the potential life span of man could be 120....who knows it could be even longer. I wonder how selfish I should be at times.

In my line of work, I have witnessed a lot of early death, worked with parents of SIDS babies, dying kids, young moms with terminal cancer, young dads, accident victims, it was heart wrenching. I also worked with older people dying, most died with dignity, in peace, with family or caring folks with them...but it is never easy. It has never been easy. Doing a genealogy was remarkable, as these 'ancestors' came to life with names, dates of marriage. One couple was married on Valentines Day in the 1700s, another on the day after Christmas. They were so much like us, and yet so different.

I think how well we live, how much we contribute to the world is more important than how long we live...knowing you....I think you would be the first to agree. Some people who have died early, have contributed more than I could have in 5 life times.

There is some quote I cannot remember the whole thing....something like this:

Sing as if no one is listening
Dance as if no one is watching
Love as if....

OK some one finish that for me....I can't remember, but it it a great quote.

I am off to hit the pillow.