Soon I'll Be 25

I always thought about what I'd be like when I was 25, and in just a few days, I will be. I remember being about 19, working in Orlando, and a co-worker of mine was celebrating her 25th Birthday. I remember thinking, "Wow. 25 is so far away for me." And here it is, sneaking up on me. Here's an excerpt from a book I'm working on about my 5 year-old views on being 25.

Ever since I was five years old I’ve wanted only two things in life: 1) To be an actor (Well, at five years old, I specifically wanted to be the youngest actress to win an Oscar, but time crept up on me and I never made a movie. Damn you Tatum O’Neal for setting the bar so high!). 2) To be loved. One could argue that that two go hand in hand, being that performers thrive on love and attention from everyone, even a room full of strangers, but even at five years old I knew that having someone love you was a special thing. I was fortunate enough to grow up with parents who truly love each other. Everyday I saw what a marriage should look like, and it’s what I wanted. My parents married young, at twenty-three, and had three of their four kids before they were thirty. When that’s what you grow up with, you believe it’s the norm. I decided I would be married and start a family at twenty-five. Waiting until I was twenty-five would give me plenty of time to get my career started. Oh five year old me, if only you knew...