On Aging

Today I celebrated my 33rd birthday. It was an okay day overall, with some painful parts and some wonderful ones. Celebrating in quarantine wasn’t exactly in my plans, but then an unexpected encounter with someone who sexually assaulted me when I was a child the day before my birthday was also unexpected and incredibly upsetting. I don’t really want to go into what happened, but the encounter, along with the painful parts of today, resulted in me crying for about ten minutes straight today. Still, I have a lot to celebrate and the day even perked up when I was surprised with an adult beverage delivery from three dear friends.

I am grateful to be another year older and, despite how I may feel sometimes, I feel much more comfortable in my own skin and identity than I ever have before. That’s a huge step for me. Case in point: Chris Harrison, a fellow JewV’Nation alum, wrote this article about how COVID-19 is affecting Jews of Color and it includes a couple of very honest quotes from me that I definitely would not have had the guts to give even a year ago. I don’t want to apologize for who I am and what I’ve experienced and I don’t want to hide the ugly parts of that experience.

Here’s to another year of adventures, big and small, expected and unexpected!