077 Chapter 6 Conclusion What’s good [about ageing]? I don’t have to rush so much. I’m still busy but I don’t have to go rushing around quite so much as when I went to work, and then came home and looked after the family. I’m on dialysis three times a week and I’m quite tired then, but the other days is doing all the normal things, washing, shopping, cooking and all that sort of stuff. And I go to ukulele. I think it’s important for the elderly to get activities they like doing. I still feel that my brain is going okay. And that’s lucky because my body’s given up the ghost a bit. I still feel positive. I’ve met old people who are very grumpy and sort of depressed, and I’m very grateful that I’m not like that. You’d think I’d be really depressed, but I just look at each day and I’m grateful for each day. And I’m very grateful to live in Australia with the medical care. I think it’s a decision. I’m not saying I’m happy all the time. Yeah, there are times when I do get depressed. And there are things that I missed out on doing. I would have loved to do the Amsterdam to Budapest river cruise – that’s probably my one regret, travel. I think every person has regrets about things they haven’t done, or things they have done that they wish they hadn’t done. —Mara, 80s