It’s a strange thing to feel yourself changing.

The first time I realized that was sometime in my early twenties, and I have felt it quite a few times since then.

Most recently, I have discovered a newfound love of salad, and as I was fixing a big bowl of weeds for myself the other day, I had one of those moments. Who am I? definitely crossed my mind and I started giggling. I have never in my life been someone who would, of my own free will, eat a salad. But now apparently, I am? (At least if I can make the salad.)

Because I am, alas, around myself all the time, many changes are too slow and subtle for me to really be aware of them. When I become aware of those changes, it stands out.

I’ve heard people talk about how, even after being married for 50 years, they still learn surprising things about their partner. It never occurred to me before that this can actually apply to my relationship with myself. I know I will continue to change, and I have no doubt that I will surprise myself from time to time, as well.

Yet how hard it is to point to a moment. To say: there, in that moment, I changed.
– Danielle Dutton in Margaret the First