Thanks, Camarel. My grandmother has 5 years to go to reach him.

If she has her wish, she won't get there. While she greets each new day with cheerfulness, she has told me more than once that she has lived too long and is ready to welcome death whenever it arrives. Her vision has greatly deteriorated and last week the last of her contemporary friends died at the age of 96. All of her friends and family are from a generation younger than her.

She has had a couple of cousins, who had lived to their mid-90s, and had a second cousin, who died in Illinois a few years ago, who was 109. Obviously, we hope to plan a significant celebration for her 100th birthday, but she doesn't look at that as a milestone.