Sarah Vacchiano on Experiencing a “Soft Launch” to Adulthood—and Writing About It It began with a starter marriage at 21. At the time, I didn’t know anyone else who had so neatly checked all the proverbial boxes: I’d graduated from college, got married, bought a house, and sized myself up for potential motherhood. I had seen what I thought a successful adult life looked like, I bought it, and I cut the tags. Article continues after advertisement But by the time I turned 30, most of those boxes were unchecked. I had finalized my divorce, packed up my law school apartment in the North Carolina suburbs, and moved to Manhattan to chase my dreams of becoming an entertainment lawyer. Long past what would traditionally be considered my “coming of age” years, I was desperately in need of a new roadmap. All the familiar refrains that you hear after hitting rock bottom—optimistic invocations of “second chances,” “starting over,” and “finding yourself”—felt acutely cliché.…