The Remains of the Year

Today, it’s October 3, which means 89 days remain until the end of the year. That’s 2.96 months, if you consider all months to have 30 days, which they don’t. Some ding-dong along the way decided to mix it up so several months have 31 days.

Don’t even get me started on February, the runt of the year. At the first-ever monthly meeting, did February draw the short straw and end up with an extra random day about every four years just to get the dang calendar to synchronize with the seasons? Imagine being at that meeting. If I were February, I would have said, “Whoa! How come I’m the only one that’s responsible for the earth’s revolutions around the sun?!” January, acting all superior because it’s named after a God, tried to change the subject and teased February about it’s name meaning “mud month” in Old English. Jeez, I never did like January.

Back to our 89 days, the last ones in the year 2019. Do you remember leaving your teens and entering your 20s? How for the first time in your life you had a particular feeling that would repeat itself annually for the rest of your life? It goes like this, “I don’t feel any different.” That’s what I recall about turning 20; I still felt 19. Turning 30? Still felt 19. Don’t know about you, but, for me, this repeats every year, albeit now with a sarcastic inner voice that adds, “Have you looked in the mirror lately?”

Turning 2020 is a big deal and let’s celebrate that then. For now, what shall we do with this bounty of 89 days before us? I did a little research on some options.

In 2015, a woman ran 94 marathons across Africa in 89 days. This might work for you, but I’m crossing it off my list. First of all, I’d have to get off the couch. Second, elephants and even warthogs can outrun me.

In 89 days, one can plan a wedding. This is more up my alley! But, I’d have to get divorced first and, let’s face it, that’d easily eat up six weeks. Besides, I kind-of like my husband.

Many online sites proclaim, “Learn a language in 90 days!” I figure that extra day won’t be a problem, we can borrow it from February as it’ll have one to spare the next leap year, which, how about that, is in 2020.

But which language to learn? The software company Rosetta Stone offers over 20 different language courses. They report Russian is the second most widely used language on the internet. Big surprise there. Maybe that’s the language to learn before the next election. There’s another website that boasts you can learn up to 12 languages at once. However, I’m supremely doubtful as I’m still trying to grasp the complexities of English.

Although 89 days is too short for a semester, there are classes one could take ranging from pottery to programming. How about the myriad of fitness options one could practice in three months, like yoga, pilates, aerobics, weight lifting ... I’m exhausted just thinking about it! I have to sit down.

While these are all good ideas of what to do in 89 days, there has to be more. Or, is the answer perhaps less? After all, I’ll be hauling out my boots and sweaters as the weather gets colder, losing an hour for daylight savings time, doing endless errands for all the approaching holidays and accompanying hubbub ... phew! Thank goodness I’m sitting down!

So, rather than figure out what I can accomplish in these precious 89 days, I think I’ll just stop. Stop and appreciate each one fully as it passes me by. At the end, I bet I’m left with 89 memories of 2.96 months spent very well.