Standing Between Years

At the end of the year, some people count days. I walk through them.

As December draws to a close, many of us begin tallying things — accomplishments, losses, resolutions kept or abandoned. We measure time as if it were something we could stack neatly, one unit on top of another, and then set aside.

But I’ve never experienced time that way.

For as long as I can remember, months have existed for me as places rather than num…