An ongoing series in which I ask people what their lives were like at my age – even if they’re not very far from my age.

How, how, how to introduce Emily Goodstein? I probably don’t have to. If I were playing the “Six Degrees of Separation” game and wanted to start with someone I knew personally, I’d ditch Mr. Bacon and use Ms. Goodstein. This birth photographer, lover of DC and Austin, social media die-hard, reproductive justice advocate, and shutterbug behind the illustrations in the forthcoming book The Washington DC Chef’s Table is constantly on the move, making connections, and sharing life’s moments on Facebook…yet somehow manages to send personal, thoughtful thank you cards and get full nights of sleep more often than anyone I know. 

Julia: Does the term “Saturn returns” mean anything to you?

Emily: I always thought of Saturn Return as the time between one’s 27th and 30th birthdays which is often a time of rapid and extreme change. I first heard someone mention it when I was at a youth organizing conference when I was 25 and went back to my hotel room and Googled it. Since then, I think about it often and chalk many life events up to the fact that Saturn is now in the same place as it was when I was born. I am not sure if it actually has to do with Saturn or what, but my life seems to change more than it stays the same…Reminds me of my dad always saying “the only thing constant is change.” (Do all dads say this? Seems like a really dad thing to say.)

J: Where were you when you turned 28?

J: What are one or two or several things you remember from the year or so surrounding that birthday?

E: I remember I was doing lots of personal work on the idea of doing nothing and spending time alone. On the actual birthday itself, I spent about four hours reading [Tina Fey’s book] Bossypants by myself in my apartment and it was the longest time I’d spent awake in my apartment not communicating with someone else or creating something or being productive or sleeping in a very long while. It was a huge accomplishment. (Just to continue this theme, I feel like it is appropriate to mention that I rang in 29 by myself in my apartment by going to bed at 8:30, and I was so happy.)