Emily Martin Cochran

This past Saturday, I turned 32, and Garner and I spent the day celebrating and relaxing! We went to brunch at one of our favorite places in Rome, Blossom Hill BBQ & Burgers, caught a movie, and tried out a newer restaurant for dinner, Melinda’s Coastal Kitchen (with all of the high school prom couples!). The weather was gorgeous, and I felt so relaxed!

Thanks to all of my friends and family who reached out with birthday wishes – I’m so grateful for each of you.

I thought I would share some of my hopes for 32 with you here:

• I hope to continue cultivating wellness in my life by taking my physical, mental, and emotional health seriously. Once I turned 30, I learned that I have to be intentional about my health because my body does not bounce back as it did when I was 22.
• I hope to do more things just because I want to do them for myself. For example, I decided to treat myself for my birthday and got my hair colored for the first time! I had red hair as a baby, and I always thought I would look good as a redhead. It’s just a demi-permanent dye, and it will be fun to try it out for a few weeks!

• I hope to build stronger roots in our community here in Rome, including meeting more people, getting involved in organizations and service opportunities, and just growing a sense of “home” in Rome.
• I hope to see and celebrate with friends and family now that we have mostly figured out the new normal in living with COVID-19. We’re planning trips with family, and I dearly hope to make it back to Williamsburg for William & Mary’s homecoming this fall. It’s been too long since I’ve seen some of my college friends, so I want to change that in 2022!
• I hope to grow in self-compassion, authenticity, and bravery this year as we figure out how to permanently solve the two-body problem in our careers. I hope that we will remember first that we are more than what we do for work, and that we can put the same energy that we do in work into the rest of life.

Here’s to 32 and to making lots of great memories this year!