Heather has a Bachelor's Degree in English from Moravian College and has been freelance writing for more than 12 years.

Started the day in a complete state of bliss

Realized that another year will pass by

In a matter of just six single days or checkmarks

On the calendar of life and the physical one

Hanging on the wall and sitting on the office desk

A new set of anxiety with being a year older

One step closer to being at the end of line

Sounded a bit cynical and pre-mature to many

Can't overlook the cold hard truth of the subject matter

Made to feel that 35 was the sign of the old maid cross

Worse than a spinster and on the brink of completely pathetic

Saddened that a cloud came through recent silver lining

Thought that progress was made to finally becoming adult

Growth stunted with the fear of being a grown-up slacker

Too relaxed when maturity should be acting like end of world

Don't want to be one of those pushy individuals

Who needed to accomplish everything before hitting 40

Time to do this and time to do that

Clock ticking faster and much louder now than before

Never heard the intensity of it until it was brought up

Under the scrutinizing eye of a pocket grandma

With the natural smile and a very judgmental scowl

Wondered why approval of an unrelated granny

Was necessary to have when it shouldn't matter

Slightly offended by the private scorn for no clear offense

Happy that I found a partner to share in fun and mayhem

Glad to be just myself and on no one else's timetable

A time where age can be a blessing and a detriment

Self-inflicted added pressure of being more than

Just a pretty side dish or window dressing

A nice girl treated more than sugar filled arm candy

Felt securer with him than with anyone else

Frightened of the rug being pulled out too soon

Hard to tell what the future holds in this enterprise

Trying to shut the internal panic alarm buttons off

Inside the brain, but there was one switch was hard to reach

Always secretly worried of being too much of everything

Trying to find a balance between dominance and obedience

Without losing full integrity in the process

Harder job than most would believe

Still a work in continual development no matter what

Trying to accept that, deal with it and move on.

Forget about it and live life to the fullest.