The first notice I received was from the Registry of Motor Vehicles announcing I had a birthday coming up, and was required to renew my driver’s license. Furthermore, because of my advanced age, 77, I would need to make an in-person appointment at the registry office.

Oh, and you must take a vision exam, it said.

All well and good. I was pleased to be reminded of the impending birthday and consequent expiration of said license, as late one night, some 30 or more years ago, I was stopped in the western part of the state for a broken tail light. The officer was very polite, until he noted my license had expired some weeks ago.

“I’ll take care of it,” I quickly assured the officer.

“I can’t allow you to drive,” he said. “Your license has expired.”

“What am I supposed to do?” I know my tone sounded querulous.

“Tell you what I’ll do,” he said. “You’re pretty old, like my father. And he forgets things.”

He paused.

“I’ll follow you to that motel down the road. Stay there tonight, and tomorrow get someone to drive you to the registry to renew your license.”

I didn’t want a repeat of that memorable encounter, so I immediately headed over to the registry at the airport business park, which I haven’t visited in years. Turns out you do need an appointment. Fortunately, I managed to get one for the next day.

Unfortunately, I failed the vision exam. Now I’m confined to a restricted license, daytime driving only, dawn to dusk.

Welcome to senior-citizen hood.

Since then, I read an article about seniors making a pact with their children to surrender their license when they reach a level of incompetence behind the wheel due to dementia. Since then, we watched an episode of Grace and Frankie where Frankie (Lily Tomlin) drives with an expired license, and subsequently fails her vision test.

Frequency illusion, known as the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, is hitting me between the eyes. The Baader-Meinhof Syndrome is when we encounter similar elements of a common theme that hadn’t occurred to us before. I expect to encounter this situation when I go into a restaurant: senior seating over there; in a gas station: senior drivers drive to the left; at the post office: seniors wait in this line.

Increased awareness of old people, being old, acting old, and focusing on age is all around us. And even though I spent 20 years as a nursing home administrator, it feels very different when it is applied to me and my driver’s license.

Seriously, it’s a pleasure to be reminded of my impending birthday. I acknowledge my vision, hearing, reactions and mental status may not be as sharp as they were 50 or 60 years ago. However, I’ve been behind the wheel since 1964, and last year I was driving in Great Britain, without issue.

I don’t feel old, and yet . . . it seems the Registry of Motor Vehicles feels I’m driving in that direction. I intend to play by the rules, and not drive after dusk. However, when not on the road I have no intention of slowing down.

Tom Dresser lives in Oak Bluffs.