Archive for December 5th, 2008

Today is my birthday — the milestone one! I am now officially a grown-up, though I guess I have felt fairly grown up for a while. Birthdays are always a time for reflection. I was having a great reverie last night about how my life is so much better than when I turned 20. Even random, relatively inconsequential things are better — like having better hair and clothes (this is a function of having more money and carefully cultivating a sense of style by 5 years of reading Vogue, Elle, Glamour, et al, and 2 years of watching TLC’s What Not to Wear). At age 20 I had yet to discover Princeton’s Glee Club. Now I’m the executive director of a chorus here in NYC and have sung in Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. I may have a few more lines on my face but I am definitely in better shape. At age 20, I would have had a hard time running a mile. Now I have finished two half marathons, and signed up for another in May. I’m working full-time as a writer for real publications. I had hoped for that at age 20, but I am not sure I thought it was possible.

Anyway, I was having this great reverie. Then I woke up because my 18-month-old son was screaming. He’d thrown up all over the place. Yes, the norovirus epidemic has hit the Vanderkam-Conway home. So we were up until 2:30AM of my birthday morning doing laundry, sanitizing surfaces, etc. Ah, life.