Oprah's answer to the quarter-life crisis: "Jess' remember yo' spirit, chil'!"

as my friends and I careen toward 25 years of age--and as some of us (ahem, terry, nakia) have already hit that quarter-century mark--it's irresistible to stand back and take stock. hilary, tom, and i are all turning this magical age--the age when you can rent a car, your insurance goes down, and suddenly you're closer to 30 than 18--at the same time. we're throwing ourselves a ridiculous bash called the Quarter Life Crisis party to commemorate. is it only a joke, that we're all going through a quarter-life crisis? not really.

am i where i thought i'd be at 25? let's ask the experts: me through the years.

robert at 14: hardly! i planned on attending oklahoma city university, where i was to major in english literature, after which i would go on to pursue a masters' degree and marry ginger renee skaggs, my best friend and the love of my life. those times that i jerked off thinking about when matt s. unbuttoned his fly in class? i'll ignore those. i can do it.

robert at 18: well, kinda...i mean, i knew that i'd make it to the east coast eventually. i never belonged in oklahoma. that's what people have told me, anyway. i've gotten rid of of my hick accent, spiked my hair, and said a big fuck you to the baptist friends i had in ponca city. frankly, though, older robert, i can't believe you're a secretary. i always thought you'd just land a job teaching after college.

robert at 22: teaching? gimme a break, younger me. those jobs are one in a million, and i quickly discovered that while i was a big fish in a small pond at depauw university, greencastle, indiana, i'm a small-voiced fish in a big-voiced pond at peabody conservatory. all you can do at this point is practice, audition, and pray.

and now it's the present. i'll be 25 in a month and 18 days. it's easy to get caught up in all the shit that's gone down in this nearly 25 years on earth, but i can't let myself. i made it to the east coast, without having to lick burger king wrappers for sustenance. i've been dating a man i love for over a year, without chasing him off or fucking it up. for the first time in my life, i can imagine how the "rest of my life" is going to spin out; for the first time, i expect to have a "rest of my life."

for the first time in my life, being a quarter-century doesn't look so bad.