Thirty Things Every Woman Should Have and Should Know by the Time She's 30
192
Thirty Things Every Woman Should Have and Should Know by the Time She's 30
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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781401324148 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Hachette Books |
| Publication date: | 04/24/2012 |
| Pages: | 192 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.32(w) x 7.36(h) x 0.76(d) |
| Age Range: | 18 - 12 Years |
About the Author
Pamela Redmond Satran is the author of the new novel The Possibility of You and the forthcoming humor book Rabid, as well as a creator of the website nameberry.com. She continues to write Glamour magazine's monthly Glamour List column with cowriter Kim Bonnell.
Read an Excerpt
30 Things Every Woman Should Have and Should Know by the Time She's 30
By Pamela Redmond Satran
Hyperion
Copyright © 2012 Condé NastAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4013-2414-8
Chapter One
One old boyfriend you can imagine going back to and one who reminds you of how far you've come.BY GENEVIEVE FIELD
I'm about to make a big promise: This item, the very first on The List, can bring you lasting happiness in love, and self-acceptance, too.
Of course, I only know so in retrospect, which is too bad because I really could've used a little love wisdom back in 2001, when I was thirty-one and guiltily wearing a diamond-studded platinum engagement ring I feared I didn't deserve. I was tortured about love back then, in part because of my rocky romantic history; if you'd told me then that that history had made me a better person, not a less love-worthy one, I'd have told you to have another drink.
I'd been in a couple healthy relationships, sure. There was even a high school sweetheart I sometimes thought of as my Mr. Almost—a lanky, towheaded basketball player I could've ended up marrying in an alternate universe where only his kindness and hotness and devotion to me (not his political views, antithetical to mine) mattered. But since then I'd had high-drama and often misguided relationships, and now I was having real doubts that I could be the happily-ever-after bride my fiancé, Ted, saw in me.
It wasn't that I was having doubts about him. I was crazy about Ted, had fought off a bunch of art-school babes for him. After all, he was funny, sensitive, wildly creative, and he had the softest brown-eyed gaze I'd ever stared into. So yes, I longed to start a life with this man and, yes, to have his babies. And yet lately I'd been staying up later than him, sometimes hours later, lying in the dark on the sofa in our tiny apartment, watching the shadows of a gingko tree flutter on our white brick walls. I told myself it wasn't getting married I was worried about; it was everything else. It had been an epic year. I'd quit (with a fair share of attitude and no parachute) a big-deal job at a business I'd cofounded with my now ex; I'd had a cancer scare and contemplated my own mortality for the first time; the World Trade Center had been attacked (and was still smoldering less than a mile away from our home); and I was planning my wedding.
"Genny, come to bed!" Ted would whisper from the other side of the bookshelf that separated our "bedroom" from our "living room." And I would. And he would take off my tank top and press his beating heart against mine and I would feel better—until about 3 a.m., that is, when I'd awaken from some apocalyptic dream in a clammy sweat, thinking those thoughts again: What if I can't control the future of my marriage any more than I can control the future of this planet? What if I have a midlife crisis and cheat on Ted the way Married cheated on his wife—with me?
Oh, let me tell you about Married. He's my version of The List's "one who reminds you of how far you've come." He'd been out of my life for eight years by the time I got engaged (I'd been in college when we had whatever it was we had), but he'd been weighing heavily on my mind ever since Ted and I decided to marry. God, in school I'd been obsessed with him—this married older man who acted anything but married. He said his wife had fallen out of love with him and was probably seeing someone else too. I accepted this justification unquestioningly, then split ways with my disapproving roommates and rented my own place so I could be alone with him every opportunity we, or rather he, got. He would only come after dark, hiding his motorcycle in the bamboo thicket outside my fence and glancing over his shoulder as he crossed my threshold. (Did I hate the secrecy or thrive on it? I think both. Isn't it always both?) He delivered his kisses like drugs, and I accepted them, swam in their chemical glow. It was only when he wasn't there that I thought about his wife. Where was my conscience as we sped through the rain on that bike, laughing? Where was my self-respect when I snapped at him to "stay with me tonight!"? Could I lose my bearings so easily again?
One evening, about a month before my wedding, I sat down with a new but close friend, Ashley, and recounted this ignoble chapter in my life: my inability to stop myself, Married's many lies, his wife's pain when she learned the truth. "Can I do this?" I asked Ash. "Can I be trusted with Ted's heart when I've been such a shit?"
My wise-beyond-her-years friend then said something I've never forgotten: "You can't change your past, but you can change your mind about your past."
(Continues...)
Excerpted from 30 Things Every Woman Should Have and Should Know by the Time She's 30 by Pamela Redmond Satran Copyright © 2012 by Condé Nast. Excerpted by permission of Hyperion. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Preface by Cindi Leive, Editor-in-Chief, Glamour....................xvIntroduction by Pamela Redmond Satran, author of the "30 Things" list....................1
The List 30 Things Every Woman Should Have and Should Know by the Time She's 30....................10
1 One old boyfriend you can imagine going back to and one who reminds you of how far you've come. BY GENEVIEVE FIELD....................15
2 A decent piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in your family. BY SLOANE CROSLEY....................21
3 Something perfect to wear if the employer or man of your dreams wants to see you in an hour. BY ANNE CHRISTENSEN....................27
4 A purse, a suitcase, and an umbrella you're not ashamed to be seen carrying. ILLUSTRATION BY MARY LYNN BLASUTTA....................30
5 A youth you're content to move beyond. BY ZZ PACKER....................33
What 30 means to me BY TAYLOR SWIFT....................39
6 A past juicy enough that you're looking forward to retelling it in your old age. BY AYANA BYRD....................43
7 The realization that you are actually going to have an old age—and some money set aside to help fund it. BY SUZE ORMAN....................49
8 An email address, a voice mailbox, and a bank account—all of which nobody has access to but you. BY JACQUELYN MITCHARD....................55
What 30 means to me BY RACHEL ROY....................61
9 A résumé that is not even the slightest bit padded. BY JULIE ROTTENBERG AND ELISA ZURITSKY....................63
10 One friend who always makes you laugh and one who lets you cry. BY KELLY CORRIGAN....................69
11 A set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra. ILLUSTRATION BY MARY LYNN BLASUTTA....................72
12 Something ridiculously expensive that you bought for yourself, just because you deserve it. BY THE EDITORS OF GLAMOUR....................75
13 The belief that you deserve it. BY FIONA MAAZEL....................77
What 30 means to me BY PADMA LAKSHMI....................83
14 A skin-care regimen, an exercise routine, and a plan for dealing with those few other facets of life that don't get better after 30. BY ANGIE HARMON....................87
15 A solid start on a satisfying career, a satisfying relationship, and all those other facets of life that do get better. BY KATIE COURIC....................91
1 How to fall in love without losing yourself. BY MELISSA DE LA CRUZ....................97
2 How you feel about having kids. BY RACHEL ZOE....................101
3 How to quit a job, break up with a man, and confront a friend without ruining the friendship. ILLUSTRATION BY MARY LYNN BLASUTTA....................104
4 When to try harder and when to walk away. BY KATHY GRIFFIN....................107
5 How to kiss in a way that communicates perfectly what you would and wouldn't like to happen next. BY THE EDITORS OF GLAMOUR....................111
What 30 means to me BY SANDRA LEE....................113
6 The names of the secretary of state, your great-grandmothers, and the best tailor in town. BY THE EDITORS OF GLAMOUR....................117
7 How to live alone, even if you don't like to. BY PAMELA REDMOND SATRAN....................119
8 Where to go—be it your best friend's kitchen table or a yoga mat—when your soul needs soothing. ILLUSTRATION BY MARY LYNN BLASUTTA....................122
9 That you can't change the length of your legs, the width of your hips, or the nature of your parents. BY PORTIA DE ROSSI....................125
10 That your childhood may not have been perfect, but it's over. BY LISA LING....................129
11 What you would and wouldn't do for money or love. BY LAUREN CONRAD....................133
12 That nobody gets away with smoking, drinking, doing drugs, or not flossing for very long. BY KATIE CROUCH....................139
What 30 means to me BY BOBBI BROWN....................145
13 Who you can trust, who you can't, and why you shouldn't take it personally. BY LIZ SMITH....................147
14 Not to apologize for something that isn't your fault. BY THE EDITORS OF GLAMOUR....................151
15 Why they say life begins at 30! BY THE EDITORS OF GLAMOUR....................155
But Wait! There Is One More Thing. by Pamela Redmond Satran....................159
To Send You on Your Way ... My 30 Things by Maya Angelou....................163
Acknowledgments....................167