I did not plan on getting old. Yet, in December of 2025, I turned 87. For much of my life, I thought of aging as something that happened to others. I would look at people I called "old," never imagining how quickly time would bring me to this very season. And then all at once, I found myself standing here as an elder. I know the science of aging-the ways the body slows, the memory shifts, and the senses change. But to live through it is different than reading about it. I feel it in small but unmistakable ways. I am no longer as strong, quick, or agile as I once was.