See more lovely photos of Lydia and what she wrote:
"I'm 32 years old today-yes-let me spell it out for you THIRTY-TWO. I'm not going to let anyone shame me into thinking I shoudn't say it out loud, or believe that it's a sign that I'm running out of time for what I do not know. Because for many instead of looking at age as a thing of pride, we have shrouded it in negativity. I lost a friend this morning due to cancer and it is dawned on me that she didn't get to have this opportunity. So I'm going to scream my age out loud, and wear it in a badge if I have to. Why? Because 32 years is how many mornings I have woken up and nights I've gone to bed. 32 is how many years I have inhaled and exhaled without skipping a beat. It's the number years I've made it past Christmas, New Years, and other holidays, and more than anything is the number of years I've been able to say I'm alive, when others couldn't."
