That is one thing that gives me hope for many more years with Peanut, for the most part she doesn't act old.
She acts more mature, problem-solving more, pacing herself, but she doesn't act
old in the same way my nearly 14 year old dog does. Peanut will walk calmly and with dignity up to a ball, cheep at it to declare her intentions, then pounce on it and start mauling it like the violent little dinosaur she is. Shadow moves slowly because it's the only speed he has left, deliberately because he has the pain that comes with being so old.
When I watch Peanut sleep it's because she's adorable and I want to boop her face, when I watch Shadow sleep I find myself checking to make sure he's still breathing.
She will be 16 next month in a species who the average is often listed at 15 (though it's not that uncommon for healthy lovebirds to live into their 20s) and I really hope her energy means she has quite a few good years left.
She has minor arthritis in her feet that doesn't really slow her down much, the main issue with that is she will not grip any perch she trusts not to dump her... which would be okay but I'm one of those perches. While I appreciate the trust I'm a bit of a lummox and have caused her to wobble off a couple of times, as well as sent her rolling down my stomach when I sat up too fast once.
She is going blind in her right eye as well, but she has compensated well for it. For a week or so she would overshoot her flights when she had to turn left but has already figured out whatever was going wrong and can fly normally again.
She has trouble finding small, stationary treats I've left out for her and doesn't always pay attention when I try to point them out because she thinks she has better ideas of where I've "hidden" them. So I slide them into her line of sight and she has to lunge at me because I was TOUCHING her FOOD which is a filthy sin.
Unlike Shadow, I have not really been able to come to grips with the fact that Peanut will be gone someday. For him, all I hope is his time left is happy and he gets to pass in peace instead of afraid in a hospital. It would make me sadly happy (if that makes any sense) to get up one morning and find him on his bed, as if asleep, but gone.
Maybe it's because she is still so healthy and vibrant I haven't really felt like I needed to come to terms with it yet, mentally. Shadow's slow decline has given me lots of time to appreciate the life he's had, and all the things we still enjoy.
I really hope when her time draws closer I can find the same peace many of you have with your older birds as well.