Birthday Meditations

Yesterday was my birthday, and through the course of the day I was thinking a lot about how my life has changed over the course of the year since the previous birthday. It was pretty amazing. For those of you who are curious, I turned 36 yesterday. On my 35th birthday, I was just starting to contemplate whether my marriage of nearly fourteen years was still salvageable. I was married to a man who was doing almost nothing to help me achieve my own goals and was watching his own future circle the drain while he wallowed in apathy. I was just getting serious about figuring out what graduate programs I wanted to apply to and I was preparing to start a final year of undergraduate classes. I don't even remember doing anything special that day except going to lunch with my parents. I think. I certainly wasn't very happy about most aspects of my life. My, how things have changed. On my 36th birthday, I had my B.A. (summa cum laude, thank you very much), was getting ready to start classes in a Ph.D. history program, and was divorced and happily involved with the person who sent me these lovely flowers for my birthday. I don't even remember when I last received flowers, especially ones that didn't come from the grocery store. This birthday, I was very, very happy. It's amazing the difference one single year can make in the course of your life.