Talking about aging

I am 54 years old. Since it's likely that my life here is more than half over, I've been thinking some about aging.

In English, we have three main ways to describe this condition of living many years. We might say, "She is old." That one is depressing. She IS old. She has arrived at oldness. No turning back, no mitigating circumstances. Just old. I won't be ready for anyone to say this about me for a long, long, long time.

We also could say, "She is getting old." That one sounds a little better - at least it's a process, and she hasn't completely become old. The downside of this expression is its passivity. Oldness is just handed to her, and she wears it. The more that she is given, the more layers of oldness surround her. Soon she'll be completely covered.

The third way to express aging is to say, "She is growing old." Now I like this one! Oldness is something I want to grow into. This is so much more positive, suggesting that old age is something to be desired. It also infers a never-ending process, a journey of aging.

So... what about you? Are you old? Getting there? Are you still growing as you're getting older?