Biding time

By kate on July 26th, 2005

When I was little, and my birthday or Christmas was coming up, I had trouble waiting through what seemed like an impossibly huge number of days. My parents came up with a cool idea that really got me through the anticipation.

They had me create a linked chain of paper loops, one loop per day. (The loops were made by cutting strips of paper and gluing one end to the other.) Every day, I’d rip off a loop. It really helped my perspective – even when it seemed like there was still a really long time left, I could see the tangible difference between how long the chain had been at the beginning, and how long it was a week (or whatever) later. The usual time frame was about a month.

Now, I’m again waiting impatiently for an event that seems an impossible number of days away. So, with a little sheepish silly feeling, I turned to my old reliable coping mechanism and pulled out scissors and glue. The past couple of nights I spent some time cutting up 220 strips of various multicolored wrapping paper, writing a date on each, and gluing them in a chain.

It turned out quite long (probably over 40 feet) and garishly festive-looking. Steve said it wasn’t too obnoxious, so we decided to put it along the back of the mantel – visible, but not right in front of the eyes. As he predicted I would, I giggled with self-consciousness and delight as I ripped the first link.