Time and a waning moon: seniors describe the meaning to later life.

Six hundred older Canadians wrote narratives about the meaning of being a senior. The narratives were analyzed and descriptions of simile, paradox, and humor were extracted. Two paradoxical experiences--sameness-yet-difference and restriction-yet-expansion--were described as seniors shared the mystery of later life. They specified three aspects of humor to shed light on human ways of creating strength and joy: personal humor as essential for survival and as a means of making light of personal frailties, and shared humor as a source of joy and entertainment.