I’m 71 and aging along with my 92 year-old mother leaves me with a growing list of questions.

In many ways we are very fortunate. We are mortgage-free, don’t have to struggle with our finances, live close to shops and restaurants, and have access to convenient transportation. Plus we get along very well together, which is probably the most important thing of all.

My mother’s goal, however, is to live to be a hundred, a goal I’d be delighted to see her reach. She seems to think she will be invited to Buckingham Palace in England, will meet the king, and be interviewed on TV and radio. I simply say that will be wonderful. However, what will I be like if she reaches this goal? I’m not sure. Even looking a few years down the road, will I be able to assist her in all that I currently do for her. I am in reasonably good health, but who know what the future might bring.? I don’t want to see her go into long-term care. Although the care home my stepfather was in was a very good facility, no care home can replace the day-to-day living, the tiny little things I do for her, and the company we share together. Even daily visits are filled with hours of waiting in between.

On another, but related matter, she often expresses the worry what would happen to her if anything bad should happen to me. I remind her that we have an answer to cover contingencies for my death, or less catastrophically, if I had to spend even a few days in hospital while recovering from a surgery.

Our back-up plan is this: her god daughter, Nadine, would welcome my mother into her home for a while or forever. We discussed this a few months ago, and before I could even ask, she broached the subject with this generous offer. This took a weight off my mind. My mum’s too, but sometimes she forgets.

So on we go, my mother looking forward to meeting the king on her good days, and feeling her age when she can barely get out of bed on her bad days.

To paraphrase Frank Sinatra’s song “That’s life,” we both sometimes feel like we’re riding high in April, only to be shot down in May.