For a 30-Year-Old Virgin, It’s Now or Never

Modern Love

The New York Times

Society & Culture, Nyt, Nytimes, Loss, Redemption, Storytelling, New York Times, Love, Essay

4.3 • 9K Ratings

🗓️ 14 June 2023

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Clare Almand was born with congenital heart disease, so her life was never what she would call “normal.” By the time she was 30, she’d had 10 open-heart surgeries and her health was rapidly declining. Clare thought she was dying. With death looming, she was running out of time to do something she’d never done, something she felt like everyone else had already checked off their list. Clare felt she was running out of time to lose her virginity. Today, Anna Martin sits down with Clare to discuss wanting to be normal, at least in one small way.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Claire, Almond, welcome to Modern Love.
0:11.4	Thank you.
0:12.6	You wrote an essay about a big, important date you went on.
0:16.7	Can you read me the beginning?
0:18.5	Sure.
0:19.5	The candles were lit.
0:21.6	The genitonic was chugged.
0:24.0	His pants were down.
0:25.9	I hesitated for a moment before saying, I've never actually done this before.
0:32.2	I was talking about sex.
0:34.2	Oh my God.
0:38.2	This is so personal.
0:40.2	I feel like it's the kind of thing you tell.
0:42.5	Your best friend or you tell your diary.
0:45.0	Were you nervous about jarring it?
0:46.9	The story?
0:48.2	I should have been.
0:54.0	From the New York Times, I'm Anna Martin.
0:56.8	This is Modern Love.
1:00.4	Claire Almond is not shy about the fact that she still had sex at age 30.
1:05.9	She wanted to lose her virginity as soon as possible.
1:09.4	Because she was afraid she was running out of time.
	...

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