days until Bridget’s 50th birthday

Then, you're separated, figuring things out on your own

Day: 46
Year: 2019
Age: Adult
Location: Los Angeles

How do you know when to make and break ties?

Day: 45
Year: 2018
Age: Adult
Location: Seattle

How do you measure when things aren't working?

Day: 44
Year: 2017
Age: Adult
Location: Seattle

Merged, fatefully, with Phinney

Day: 43
Year: 2016
Age: Adult
Location: Seattle

Sometimes, they encompass a small thing, a thought when looking at at yourself in the mirror, sometimes you are pushed to action

Day: 42
Year: 2015
Age: Adult
Location: Seattle

Sometimes, those understandings take a long view

Day: 41
Year: 2014
Age: Adult
Location: Seattle

Forty, and there builds a kind of understanding about ourselves and what we want

Day: 40
Year: 2013
Age: Adult
Location: Seattle
Bonus: Yes, a song

Maybe, this year, we both were in the same restaurant at the same time. Maybe we saw each other, and felt a pull

Day: 39
Year: 2012
Age: Adult
Location: Seattle

Hired this young designer named James

Day: 38
Year: 2011
Age: Adult
Location: Seattle

Living day-to-day, wondering what is next, getting clients, making websites, making plans

Day: 37
Year: 2010
Age: Adult
Location: Seattle

Sometimes I wonder what a day was like for you here

Day: 36
Year: 2009
Age: Adult
Location: Seattle

Brought a marriage and a company into the world

Day: 35
Year: 2008
Age: Adult
Location: Seattle

Bridget takes her people north. Hello, Seattle!

Day: 34
Year: 2007
Age: Adult
Location: Seattle

But the steps we take to live a life are a rounded path

Day: 33
Year: 2006
Age: Adult
Location: Los Angeles

There are things in California not explored, there are things in Bridget noted and passed

Day: 32
Year: 2005
Age: Adult
Location: Los Angeles

Bridget sat in classes with famous management consultants and has earned her MBA

Day: 31
Year: 2004
Age: Adult
Location: Los Angeles

Bridget is 30 and doing okay

Day: 30
Year: 2003
Age: Adult
Location: Los Angeles
Bonus: Yes, a song

Sometimes, on the cusp, things are pretty good

Day: 29
Year: 2002
Age: Adult
Location: Los Angeles

Yo, Perez of the record shop. Yo, new century.

Day: 28
Year: 2001
Age: Adult
Location: Los Angeles

But we'll keep Rhoda, she's a good one.

Day: 27
Year: 2000
Age: Adult
Location: Los Angeles

And sometimes those changes are painful but teach you something vital about yourself, like the kind of people you don't want to be around.

Day: 26
Year: 1999
Age: Adult
Location: Los Angeles

Oh. Some things aren't what you thought and you need to make big changes

Day: 25
Year: 1998
Age: Adult
Location: Los Angeles

Inland empire state of mind, working first design job under the California sun

Day: 24
Year: 1997
Age: Adult
Location: Los Angeles

Throw a big wedding on the lake, honeymoon to Europe, west to Los Angeles

Day: 23
Year: 1996
Age: Adult
Location: Cleveland/Los Angeles

Then you're 22 and you graduate college with divorced parents

Day: 22
Year: 1995
Age: Adult
Location: Athens/Cleveland

Living in Athens, now able to drink

Day: 21
Year: 1994
Age: Adult
Location:Athens/Cleveland

Bridget is 20, and studying at college

Day: 20
Year: 1993
Age: Adult
Location: Athens/Cleveland
Gift: Yes
Bonus: Yes, a song

Nonfiction? The Joy of Sex

Day: 19
Year: 1992
Age: teenage
Location: Athens/Cleveland

Mary Stuart's The Hollow Hills was the best selling fiction book

Day: 18
Year: 1991
Age: teenage
Location: Cleveland

"Midnight Train to Georgia" by Gladys & the Pips was #1 song

Day: 17
Year: 1990
Age: teenage
Location: Cleveland

The film everybody went to see: "The Way we Were"

Day: 16
Year: 1989
Age: teenage
Location: Cleveland

Bumbershoot, which mostly featured jazz

Day: 15
Year: 1988
Age: teenage
Location: Cleveland

World Trade Center opened, Sears Tower finished

Day: 14
Year: 1987
Age: teenage
Location: Cleveland

First cellular phone call happened

Day: 13
Year: 1986
Age: teenage
Location: Cleveland

Roe v Wade went down in '73

Day: 12
Year: 1985
Age: pre-teen
Location: Cleveland

What else turns 50 in 2023? Hip Hop

Day: 11
Year: 1984
Age: pre-teen
Location: Cleveland

Bridget is ten has kissed a boy

Day: 10
Year: 1983
Age: pre-teen
Location: Cleveland
Gift: Yes, coming when I see you next
Bonus: Yes, a song

Catholic school girl, no surprise, a good student

Day: 9
Year: 1982
Age: child
Location: Cleveland

Older sister to younger sisters

Day: 8
Year: 1981
Age: child
Location: Cleveland

Always accomplished, always competent, always driven

Day: 7
Year: 1980
Age: child
Location: Cleveland

Balance of push and pull, soft and hard

Day: 6
Year: 1979
Age: child
Location: Cleveland

Father showed the resilience of tenderness

Day: 5
Year: 1978
Age: child
Location: Cleveland

Mother showed industry, takes no guff

Day: 4
Year: 1977
Age: toddler
Location: Cleveland

Surrounded by family, Italian, Scotch-Irish, Croatian

Day: 3
Year: 1976
Age: toddler
Location: Cleveland

First daughter of two, not done growing themselves

Day: 2
Year: 1975
Age: toddler
Location: Cleveland

"Cleveland," she told me later. "Everybody is still in Cleveland."

Day: 1
Year: 1974
Age: toddler
Location: Cleveland

Newborn splashes into the world, 50 years ago + 50 days

Day: 0
Year: 1973
Age: infant
Location: Cleveland
Gift: Yes, see package
Bonus: Yes, a song

What is this?

A celebration of you. A countdown of 50 days to your 50th birthday. Some presents and surpises along the way. Some recognition of who you are and why I love the you that you are. Happy birthday season, BB. Thank you for letting me celebrate you.