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From PRX, this is the Moth Radio Hour.

I'm Chloe Salmon, one of the directors at the Moth.

As a kid, I found myself watching a lot of TV shows that implied I was just one after

school special moment away from growing up.

And once that moment hit, no more uncertainty, no more bad choices, only me being magnificent

from that point on forever.

I turned 30 this year and I'm starting to suspect that I will still be figuring it all

out, sometimes with dignity, but more often awkwardly for the rest of my life.

Growing up is hard to do, but discovering who you really are is worth the mess.

In this hour, stories of growing pains and the transformations that follow.

First up is a slam story from Jennifer Lubin, who told it in Washington, D.C. where we partner

with Public Radio Station, W.A.N.U.

Here's Jennifer, live at the Moth.

So the happiest day of my life was the day that I realized that my mom was not going to

give me up for adoption.

Now mind you, my mom was never going to give me up for adoption, nor did she ever threaten

to do that, but I was a seven-year-old drama queen in the second grade at the time and

I had managed to convince myself that the possibility of her giving me away was going to be real.

...