Vitamin Eve

Tonight is an Eve in my life - not just another day subsiding into the void that separates one set of daylight hours from another - but a true doorway into an event, an era, a new and enchanting time of being. Tonight is the Eve of my entrance into my thirties.

It's hard to believe - not just for me, but doubly so for my mother. Only 109,49 nights ago, I existed as a silent being inside her womb, making my presence known with a sensation, as she puts it, "that felt like really bad gas." Seven hours later that particular Eve ended with the dawn of a new life - my life - a life I feel in many ways that I've barely begun to encounter.

And in truth, encounter is what sets an Eve apart from other moments in time. A cognizant entrance into a particular encounter with life earns the title of Eve. Christmas Eve. New Year's Eve. And, for those of Jewish descent, the weekly Eve of Shabbat.

So why aren't there more of these Eves? They pass me by all the time - the Eve before my son's first day of school. The Eve upon which I discard an old habit. The Eve that I usher in a better level of communication with my husband, my friends, the self I've been hiding. Or maybe just the Eve before I get a new haircut. Who cares? We celebrate a few choice things - birthdays, national holidays, and Christmas. Why not create a calendar that celebrates the personal as well. And then, why not usher in those personal milestones with an Eve celebration, not just a remembrance of the day itself. There's something magical about evening, after all - twilight slants, stars appear, children search for excuses to stay awake. Why not capitalize on this enchantment and light a candle - remember the past or celebrate the future?

Here are a few Eves I'd like to commemorate in the coming year:

Visit-From-My-Family Eve
Debt Free Day Eve
Starting a New Business Eve
Doing-Something-I've-Never-Done-Before Eve
Moving-Day Eve
Anniversary Eve
Fourth of July Eve

Why not add a few of your own?