ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
... Nah, since childhood, I've been an extremely independent person, always figuring no one was going to take care of me but me. ...
I think most of us plan and want to be independent (there are exceptions of course), but things don't always go according to plan. And like others have said, we may have an 'exit plan', but that doesn't mean we will be in a position to act on it.
IMO, my MIL & FIL worked too hard to be independent. There are things we can help them with that are really no trouble for us, but nearly impossible for them. So now we try to go out of our way to ask - 'anything else you need done around here?' when we visit.
-ERD50