I became a year older last week. Because it's my web page, that's why. But I also think that it's healthy to go through this sort of thing once in awhile, and this seems as good a time as any. And, besides, now that I'm living away from Boston, my visits there always make me feel nostalgic in a happy, anticipatory kind of way. So there are external factors that also make this a good time to think about how I've changed and what getting older means to me.
Experiences push and pull people towards all sorts of outcomes.
And sometimes, the same experience can even push two different people in totally different directions, like a hate crime making one individual more fearful and introverted, and another individual more vehement about her rights than ever. Becoming more aware of internal needs and desires rather than dedicating oneself to the flailing ideologies of youth. It's hard to say. I know that I am not the same person that I was four, five years ago. But intervening events have made it such that I don't think that I can ever be quite that way again.