Beautiful post, Jeanie.. and alan. The perspective of Old Friends is a youthful perspective, invisioning being 70 with sitting on a park bench feeding pigeons. I too love that song, but don't look for me on a park bench when I hit 70 this summer. I don't expect it will seem terrrible strange at all, although I would have had trouble picturing myself being 70, back when I was in my twenties.

Your posts brought a couple of songs about ageing immediately to mind. One was a song that came to me, looking at my parents and several of my Aunts and Uncles all line up in lawn chairs under a large tree at the park, one family reunion.

Old Summer Wine

All lined up in lawn chairs, under the trees
Lost in their thoughts and their old memories
They've outlived their friends and their enemies
They're the last of the line, and they're taking their time
But their minds are as clear as old summer wine

Some worked the factories, some worked the fields
Some spent their lives building automobiles
Some stretched the money to make the next meal
They're the last of the line, and they're taking their time
But their minds are as clear as old summer wine

Their kids are all grown now with kids of their own
They've all left the farms and moved to the town
And they say it don't hurt when they don't come around
They're the last of the line, and they're taking their time
But their minds are as clear as old summer wine

And from Tortoise Shell Comb, in response to Alan:

And somewhere inside her, there's still that young girl
With a tortoise shell comb in her hair
And sometimes the memories come back with a song
Just as surely as if she were there

Jerry