35 today and i’ve never been more excited to write a brand new chapter (or literally speaking, a brand new book, ) 10 years ago today, i spent 6 hours in an air-conditioned stadium in Albany with hundreds of weary law school grads, taking the first day of the bar exam. i spent the rest of the day recovering and then preparing for the second day, all while wondering whether my 25th birthday was a harbinger of the work-life imbalance to come. (it was.) 5 years ago today, i spent 6 hours stuck in an air-conditioned airport terminal in Toronto. my flight home had been delayed due to thunderstorms. i dreaded turning 30 and becoming irrelevant and old, and distracted myself with texting some guy i’d met on OkCupid & had a first date with just two days prior. that guy remembered my birthday, and texted me at midnight. we kept our conversation going through the day, and he had me laughing the hours away at the terminal, forgetting that i was both ancient and stranded. we were married two years later. i cant believe that were it not for those texts and that thunderstorm, i would never have chosen to see marc again. today, i look at this photo, taken 29 years ago and i see a little girl who was so very scared and unsure of all the change that lay ahead. and as i look into that young face, i do not feel ancient (and apparently my iphotos doesn’t think i am either, because it mostly turned up my adult photos when i was looking for this one). today, i feel fearless. certain. joyful. i know better now: life has only ever transformed me for the better; aging has only ever been good for me. with each day that passes, each fine line that appears, i care less about external validation, and i hear my own voice that much crisper. i step into this new age bracket with only excitement and curiosity about all the wonders to come. bring on the late 30s, the 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond. i am so looking ahead to it all. as the wise @goodtalkthanks wrote last week, it’s going to be goddamn brilliant.