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This article illuminates one key finding of an interpretive phenomenological study that brought an occupational lens to exploring how elders experience being aged in their everyday lives. Fifteen community-dwelling, New Zealand elders aged 71 to 97, 4 Māori and 11 non-Māori, were purposively recruited. Data were gathered through individual interviews focused on stories of everyday moments and photographs of the participant's hands while engaged in a chosen occupation. Discrete stories were drawn from the narrative data and interpreted, guided by Gadamerian hermeneutics and Heideggerian phenomenology. The notion of ‘doing what matters’ emerged as participants spoke of having one occupation that was of primary importance to them. This one compelling pursuit showed as an enduring interest over time, illuminating the temporal unity of past, present and future in advanced age. Accordingly, the …