Sixty-one-year-young and mother of two, Pat shared this simple advice to other seniors – “Never retire, but RETYRE”. “When you were younger and wanted to do something but couldn’t because of other priorities, do it now,” she said. She shared that when she was younger, she didn’t go for further studies and now at her age, she is going the distance. She has taken a number of gerontology courses “as it fits me and it is the study of ageing”.

She had more advice to share – “No man is an island; we can’t live alone.” And, Pat advised seniors to learn to communicate better with their children, and counsel their grandchildren as parents these days don’t have the time to do this. “Counselling is really an ongoing affair. If your grandchild makes a mistake, you shouldn’t correct him right away as he may not be in the right frame of mind to understand. It should be done overtime when he can absorb the learnings. And counselling doesn’t mean lecturing!”