A remembered skill can give an older person a part in the present.

Being useful is not a small thing at any age, and the chances to be useful narrow as roles fall away. A skill kept from earlier life carries a way of doing something that others may not know, and it turns being present into taking part. Wanting a job to do is not vanity; it is one of the plainer ways of belonging.

If there is an older person in your life, look for something only they know how to do and ask them to do it rather than describe it. A recipe made, a repair shown, or a story checked gives more than an afternoon of polite conversation.