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It took Joe Biden three tries and 32 years to become president. What’s taken you a while to achieve? | Opinion

The Inquirer’s Opinion team wants to hear about your long-time-coming moments.

Joe Biden with wife Jill after he joined the 1988 presidential race; Biden holding granddaughter Finnegan in Des Moines, Dec. 13, 2007, before his Iowa Caucus loss pushed him out the race; Biden being sworn in as the 46th U.S. President on Jan. 20, 2021.
Joe Biden with wife Jill after he joined the 1988 presidential race; Biden holding granddaughter Finnegan in Des Moines, Dec. 13, 2007, before his Iowa Caucus loss pushed him out the race; Biden being sworn in as the 46th U.S. President on Jan. 20, 2021.Read moreEd Hille / Tom Gralish / MCT
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President Joe Biden lost in two presidential races before winning his third. He ran as a Delaware Senator in 1988, only to drop out after just three months because of plagiarism allegations when he quoted U.K. politician Neil Kinnock without attribution, dredging up other instances when Biden misattributed speech. He left the 2008 race after soundly losing the Iowa Caucus to Barack Obama, for whom he became Vice President. Then in 2020, after a shaky early campaign, Biden did it.

As MSNBC host Chris Hayes tweeted, Biden’s story can be read as a reminder never to give up on your dreams—even when they come with public embarrassment and take decades. Many of us have milestones that took us longer than we planned, whether earning a degree, learning how to swim, or winning a Super Bowl. So the Inquirer’s Opinion team wants to hear from you: What’s something that took you a while to achieve, or an area of your life where you were a “late bloomer”?

Let us know in no more than 150 words in the Google form below, and/or feel free to reach out with thoughts at opinion@inquirer.com. We’ll publish select responses in print and online in the days ahead.