12 major firsts in every woman’s life

1. Losing your virginity, of course. But even bigger: your first orgasm with someone else in the bed.
2. The first time you get on a plane because someone far away needs you.
3. The first time you realize that you don’t have to plead, make a scene or even have a good reason—you can just say no.
4. The day you find and use your personal Tear Suppression Device at work.
5. The first time you step on the scale and think: fine.
6. The first time you scare the bejeezus out of yourself (Everest, anyone?) and love it.
7. Your first public-speaking triumph. (Yes, it will happen someday!)
8. The first time you take your sweetheart home to meet your parents…
9. …and have silent sex in your old room.
10. Crossing the finish line of your first marathon—the running kind, the work kind or the emotional kind.
11. The first time you turn on your heel and walk away from a bad-for-you thing.
12. The first time you realize there’s someone you would walk into a burning building to save.