Some of how your character responds to things will depend on some of her life experiences as well as her physical, emotional and financial state. My mother is now 84 and I've been there for a lot of her life changes the last 15 years (we live on two different coasts, but I go out twice a year for three weeks at a time and we talk on the phone), but I don't know how typical some of her reactions/actions are. If any of this info is helpful, great, if not, please ignore.
Some examples. My father died at the end of 2011, and I went out for several months off an on to help with the transition. She was making the change to living alone, suffering through grief, and having to make a huge transition from being the 'day to day' person financially (they both had worked prior to retirement, but he was the one handling all the big financial decisions). Suddenly, she had to be aware of how much money is coming in and what she's doing with it (actually, I have access to view her checking account and I do a monthly review for her, but it sounds like your character would not have a child to do that, although she might have a trusted friend/advisor to talk about money things with). Fortunately, house and cars were paid off, she has a good pension of her own and other income, but even today she still worries about what would happen if she lost her money or making big financial decisions like buying a new car or replacing carpet with other flooring. Not sure if some of that comes from having been born in 1934 and growing up without much money. If your character is still married, how they handle money, how much they have and what they do with it might be something they talk about/worry about/argue about.
Social relationships - she got tired of volunteering at the local senior center, but she still has friends in the area where she has lived for over forty years, although she's had to deal with some of them dying. She prefers to talk on the phone (and stay up on the gossip), which she does pretty much every day with at least a few of them as well as a few friends that live in other parts of the country. The last few years I finally persuaded her to get a smartphone, and she will use it, mostly for phone calls. She has been doing email for several years, and likes to print out pictures that people sometimes send. She doesn't go out socially much, and spends much of her time in the evenings watching TV. She has a nice little yard and likes to putter around in it occasionally. She used to play cards occasionally with some of her friends, but doesn't do much of that anymore (I believe some of that is due to several friends not being very good players and she was getting frustrated with them, but she still wanted to keep them as friends to talk to).
Routines - she still has a few routines she keeps doing because she and my father had been doing it that way forever. Example, she gets up in the morning, lingers over the first cup of coffee reading the newspaper, then has her second cup of coffee with a light breakfast (protein shake, toast, cereal, that sort of thing) so she'll have food to take with her meds. Never more than two cups, and never less than two unless we're going somewhere for breakfast.
Physical - she has had both hips replaced, one of them still hurts, and she is dealing with COPD, high blood pressure etc. She has sometimes made statements about not wanting to live so long when things hurt. She has gotten very careful about eating right and keeping her weight down, yet paradoxically wants to cook more food than we should eat and have desserts when I visit. She still can drive safely, although passing the next driver's license renewal worries her. She did decide she was willing to pay someone to do the yard work like weekly mowing, trimming etc. She still travels a few times a year, mostly to Reno for gambling (that's a lifelong entertainment thing) and to see some old friends, but that happens less and less each year.
Pets - my parents always had large-ish dogs of some sort. After they retired, they had a couple of pug dogs, which she dearly loved. The last one died several years, and she keeps saying she's thinking about getting another small dog but has dithered about and not made a decision. Part of that seems to be her concern about what would happen if she got a younger dog and she died before it did. She gets an occasional dog fix by taking care of the neighbor's dog in her house when they're away.
A general comment. My parents were married for 58 years. For a very long part of that, they both worked. There were certainly issues and arguments, and my father could be difficult to get along with sometimes, but he worked very hard to make sure my mom was taken care of financially. It wasn't until they both retired and spent much more time together that my mom had to think more about their relationship. There was a point when she confided in me that she had been thinking about a divorce, but she never took it anywhere and I'm sure she never talked to my father about it. Communication, especially about emotional things, was never a 'thing' in our family and I'm pretty sure that was something that didn't happen in either of their families growing up. I always had the impression that they had both settled into their routines, there were some things they still enjoyed and she just ignored some of the things that she didn't like. It got more difficult when my father's health began to deteriorate, but my mother saw herself as the the caretaker - that was her responsibility, her duty, and she would keep doing whatever that required.
no subject
Some examples.
My father died at the end of 2011, and I went out for several months off an on to help with the transition. She was making the change to living alone, suffering through grief, and having to make a huge transition from being the 'day to day' person financially (they both had worked prior to retirement, but he was the one handling all the big financial decisions). Suddenly, she had to be aware of how much money is coming in and what she's doing with it (actually, I have access to view her checking account and I do a monthly review for her, but it sounds like your character would not have a child to do that, although she might have a trusted friend/advisor to talk about money things with). Fortunately, house and cars were paid off, she has a good pension of her own and other income, but even today she still worries about what would happen if she lost her money or making big financial decisions like buying a new car or replacing carpet with other flooring. Not sure if some of that comes from having been born in 1934 and growing up without much money. If your character is still married, how they handle money, how much they have and what they do with it might be something they talk about/worry about/argue about.
Social relationships - she got tired of volunteering at the local senior center, but she still has friends in the area where she has lived for over forty years, although she's had to deal with some of them dying. She prefers to talk on the phone (and stay up on the gossip), which she does pretty much every day with at least a few of them as well as a few friends that live in other parts of the country. The last few years I finally persuaded her to get a smartphone, and she will use it, mostly for phone calls. She has been doing email for several years, and likes to print out pictures that people sometimes send. She doesn't go out socially much, and spends much of her time in the evenings watching TV. She has a nice little yard and likes to putter around in it occasionally. She used to play cards occasionally with some of her friends, but doesn't do much of that anymore (I believe some of that is due to several friends not being very good players and she was getting frustrated with them, but she still wanted to keep them as friends to talk to).
Routines - she still has a few routines she keeps doing because she and my father had been doing it that way forever. Example, she gets up in the morning, lingers over the first cup of coffee reading the newspaper, then has her second cup of coffee with a light breakfast (protein shake, toast, cereal, that sort of thing) so she'll have food to take with her meds. Never more than two cups, and never less than two unless we're going somewhere for breakfast.
Physical - she has had both hips replaced, one of them still hurts, and she is dealing with COPD, high blood pressure etc. She has sometimes made statements about not wanting to live so long when things hurt. She has gotten very careful about eating right and keeping her weight down, yet paradoxically wants to cook more food than we should eat and have desserts when I visit. She still can drive safely, although passing the next driver's license renewal worries her. She did decide she was willing to pay someone to do the yard work like weekly mowing, trimming etc. She still travels a few times a year, mostly to Reno for gambling (that's a lifelong entertainment thing) and to see some old friends, but that happens less and less each year.
Pets - my parents always had large-ish dogs of some sort. After they retired, they had a couple of pug dogs, which she dearly loved. The last one died several years, and she keeps saying she's thinking about getting another small dog but has dithered about and not made a decision. Part of that seems to be her concern about what would happen if she got a younger dog and she died before it did. She gets an occasional dog fix by taking care of the neighbor's dog in her house when they're away.
A general comment. My parents were married for 58 years. For a very long part of that, they both worked. There were certainly issues and arguments, and my father could be difficult to get along with sometimes, but he worked very hard to make sure my mom was taken care of financially. It wasn't until they both retired and spent much more time together that my mom had to think more about their relationship. There was a point when she confided in me that she had been thinking about a divorce, but she never took it anywhere and I'm sure she never talked to my father about it. Communication, especially about emotional things, was never a 'thing' in our family and I'm pretty sure that was something that didn't happen in either of their families growing up. I always had the impression that they had both settled into their routines, there were some things they still enjoyed and she just ignored some of the things that she didn't like. It got more difficult when my father's health began to deteriorate, but my mother saw herself as the the caretaker - that was her responsibility, her duty, and she would keep doing whatever that required.