For most of my life, I imagined that old age would arrive quietly and warmly. I pictured myself living in a small, welcoming home surrounded by family. I thought my days would be filled with baking cookies alongside my grandchildren, watering flowers in the garden during peaceful afternoons, and curling up with a novel while the sounds of my family echoed through the house.Family
But life rarely follows the pictures we create in our minds.
At seventy-two, instead of that warm home, I found myself lying on a narrow cot inside a shelter for seniors. The ceiling above me was unfamiliar, the air filled with the quiet sounds of coughing and hushed conversations between strangers who also had nowhere else to go.
Life does not always change in a single dramatic moment. Sometimes it shifts slowly, little by little, until one day you realize everything has become different.
