This book provides some interesting insights into growing old. Margery wants to continue living in her own home until she dies but her failing health meant others were pressurizing her into moving to a place where she could be cared for.

The fact is we will all grow old. If we don’t make decisions regarding our living arrangements while we can, then others will eventually make them for us. And they may be decisions we don’t like. For Margery, at the end of the book, she ended up with a reasonable compromise, but for how long? If her health continues to slide will she be forced to move?

Other insights Margery provides into old age, were the comforts of routines, the ordinary and the predictable. While we are young we enjoy the challenges of change and variety but when we aged we find comfort in the familiar. But we can’t inflict this restriction on the young. Mostly Margery did this well. While she disagreed with many of her children’s decisions she rightly kept her opinions to herself.