After I had a cerclage surgery in September 2001, the OB said I needed to be on strict bedrest for the rest of the term. That meant six months of lying down. We promptly made a countdown calendar that X printed and put up on the bulletin board next to my bed. (Photo below).

When G was little, she had two favorite days: her birthday and the day we would leave for Lake Michigan at the start of summer. Often she would bring one or the other day up in conversation, and it would be many months away. My response was always the same: let’s make a countdown calendar! Sometimes it was on index cards that she could flip or rip each day, with specially decorated key dates (like holidays) in the countdown process. Other times it was just a plain-jane countdown calendar: a grid printed out of Word on which I hand-wrote the months and weeks. Either way it served the purpose of placing us in time and proving we were moving ever closer toward G’s elusive goal.

I have a penchant for psychics of all kind from the five-dollar palm-readers at the county fair to the ones who have a national following. I also am fascinated by astrology. Not long ago I read about arranged marriages in India; the success of many was attributed to the mix of family selection and astrological compatibility. I’m not here to weigh in on these marriages, only to say my ears perked up when I learned about Vedic astrology. Obviously matching with a partner is not my priority, but understanding myself is, so I reached out and found someone to do a proper reading.

When my reading arrived and I studied it at length, one of the many things that stood out was the periods or chapters in life. The placement of the planets at the time of birth dictate that some swaths of time will likely be more difficult than others. I didn’t need anyone to tell me that my forties have been a serious exercise in loss and recovery. Whereas previous decades have had one loss or painful rite of passage (20s – Dad, 30s – Guard Baby), the forties seem to be sending me one every few years (40 – marriage separation, 42 – divorce, 44 – Mom, 46 – teenage separation). According to Vedic astrology, this Rahu Dasa period brings upset and change, but when it concludes I should expect to “return with wisdom.” Sounds good to me. The next cycle begins October 2019, a few months past my fiftieth birthday.

For the sake of curiosity, amusement and to a certain degree, sanity, I looked online for a countdown calendar and put in my fiftieth birthday. It’s not that far away, but it’s farther than any countdown I’ve made by hand.

About a year ago, G and I did the math and discovered that we will be 50 and 18 concurrently, big milestones for both of us. This was back when we considered life as something shared. We talked about going to Katmandu, seeing the Himalayas together, and retracing Peter Matthiessen’s search for the snow leopard.

These days there’s a lot of energy around G’s transition into her own life. When she will get her own apartment, job, etc. literally and legally are likely two different concepts, but I assume there will be a fundamental shift when she turns eighteen, if not before.

I told G about my countdown timer results. “Would it surprise you to hear there are 955 days until I turn 50?”

“Wow. That sounds short. What about my eighteenth? You should put the timer in your blog.”

She knows about my blog but has shown no interest in it which made me doubly surprised to hear her suggestion. Posting our timers seems fitting for the start of a new year, but it turns out I have officially encountered the limits of wordpress.com. I’ve got the HTML written but they won’t accept it. So I can’t make it run, but I can post a screen-shot.

As you can see below, there are 1157 days until G turns 18.

941 days until I turn 50.

And last but not least: 1003 days until the magical Vedic moment when Rahu Dasa ends, and I might start to reap what I have sown. One can dream.

Happy New Year to you all!

Thank you for supporting my efforts to write and share this wild, bewildering life. Please feel free to reach out about this or any of my posts. And email me if you would like to join our secret Facebook discussion group.

Above: The three big dates, in a few years, plus the bedrest calendar – X geeked out a bit on this one, but neatly checked the days off the old fashioned way!

For a free countdown timer of your own go to: https://www.timeanddate.com/clocks/freecountdown.html