She looked at his face. So old and wrinkled. So beautiful and just right.

Perception of a self is not simply about actuality. Human beings’ identities are self-generating and people constantly revise and recreate the story of their being. Coming-into-being, not being, is the highest expression of reality. We only attain the fullest knowledge of a living thing including ourselves when we know what it was, understand what it now is, and understand what it can become. We do not know the truth of a living thing’s existence until we discern its entire history from development to demise.

As I have aged, I’ve been lucky never to reach old. Old is always at least five or ten years beyond my current calendar stage.