An honest, witty, and insightful memoir about what happens when your coming-of-age comes later than expected.

"Thanks for Waiting is the loving, wise, cuttingly funny older sister we all need in book form.” (Tara Schuster, author of Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies)

Doree Shafrir spent much of her 20s and 30s feeling out of sync with her peers. She was an intern at 29 and met her husband on Tinder in her late 30s, after many of her friends had already gotten married, started families, and entered couples’ counseling. After a long fertility struggle, she became a first-time mom at 41, joining Mommy & Me classes where most of the other moms were at least 10 years younger. And while she was one of Gawker’s early hires and one of the first editors at BuzzFeed, she didn’t find professional fulfillment until she co-launched the successful self-care podcast Forever35 - at 40.

Now, in her debut memoir, Shafrir explores the enormous pressures we feel, especially as women, to hit particular milestones at certain times and how we can redefine what it means to be a late bloomer. She writes about everything from dating to infertility, to how friendships evolve as you get older, to why being pregnant at 41 is unexpectedly freeing - all with the goal of appreciating the lives we’ve lived so far and the lives we still hope to live.

Thanks for Waiting is about how achieving the milestones you thought were so important don’t always happen on the time line you imagined. In a world of 30-Under-30 lists, this book is a welcome reminder that it’s okay to live life at your own speed.