“I was at a wedding Saturday with a lot of women in their 20s and 30s in sexy dresses, their youthful skin aglow. And even though I was 20 or 30 years older, a little worse for wear, a little tired and overwhelmed by the loud music, I was smiling. I smiled with a secret Cheshire-cat smile of pleasure and relief in being older – ‘49 and change,’ which even I would have to admit is no longer extremely late youth. But I would not give you back a year of life lived. Age has given me what I was looking for my entire life – it gave me me. It provided the time and experience and failures and triumphs and friends who helped me step into the shape that had been waiting for me all my life.”
—Anne Lamott, O Magazine