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There are also all those quirks you would expect from a person her age: issues with technology, for example, and irrational worries—like the fact that she always checks the best-before date on the milk carton, because she is convinced that "that lady at the store" has something against her. She is also constantly scandalized by the behavior of younger generations. Then again, what did I expect when I decided to move in with a 85-year-old woman?I've never felt any particular affection for the elderly—but it might just be that I haven't really hung out with any before. My maternal grandmother died in a car accident when she was about my age and her husband has spent the last 20 years locked in a mental hospital. My other set of grandparents live abroad and I only see them once a year.I'll never be a grandson to her, as she'll never be a grandmother to me, but her friendship has taught me to look at life from a different angle. I've also realized that I was biased when I first imagined living with a pensioner. I thought I would need to be a caregiver of sorts—having to escort her around town and run her errands, but that has not been the case.Even today, when I talk about it with people my age, their reaction is always the same: "Why in the world would you do that?" they ask. They assume I'm a type of social worker, but I don't see it that way. My personal freedom has not been compromised one bit. I mostly see her in the evenings, I haven't had to carry any groceries and I've never found dentures on the bathroom shelf. On the weekends, she goes out more than I do. And, unlike some of my previous roommates, she doesn't steal my food or leave dirty socks around.As for her, I think she sees me as a polite young man she is beginning to care about. She has five grandchildren, but she claims she's not a good grandmother. "I spent my whole life being a mother. I can't be bothered with acting like a grandmother," she once told me. "Obviously, I love my grandchildren and we hang out pretty often, but I am not the kind of granny who calls them all the time. I want to focus on myself now," she continued.When we talk she doesn't try to teach me how to live—though after the hair episode, she did try to teach me how to make soup. She is OK with being old and rarely talks about her past. She says she prefers to focus on her future and the places she's yet to visit. And unlike me, she is not afraid to die. "What should I be afraid of? Life just happens and be sure that fear can't stop it," she often tells me. To hear that from a woman who turns the Wi-Fi off every other day because "the router is too hot, it could start a fire," that's quite something.