Slice of Life 2022- 1 of 31: Remembering and Starting Off the Month

 

It's March, and March means the Slice of Life Story Challenge. All are welcome to join the challenge of noticing and writing about the moments of daily life that are stories.

In the peace of my kitchen, I turn off the news, and instead, I think about how to write my first post for 2022. For inspiration, I return to previous March 1 posts, as this will be my tenth year. I don’t have to go far back to realize how my slicing has documented important moments in my life and aspects of me. 

Last year on March 1, 2021, our youngest daughter left for her three-month long gap year program. She was supposed to be a freshman in college, but with everything going on in the world, she decided to wait a year before heading to school, and I am glad she did. 

It was funny to contrast my first post of 2020 because that post was also focused on Cecily, but it was about preparing for her to know where she’d be going to college and it was oblivious to the changes that were closing in on all of us. March of 2020 was a fascinating time to be slicing every day, and rereading the reactions and reflections is a little traumatic– I had no clue what was coming our way and how long it would last! 

In 2019, I posted 31 things about me. Although interesting to read and mostly still true today– I still wish I could speak another language, play the guitar, and touch my forehead to the ground while sitting with my legs wide and I’m only a little closer to any of those goals after a lot of potential practicing time– I have pledged off posts like that one. I try hard to make my posts push my narrative skills, and keep to the challenge of coming up with a slice of my daily life. This one, although reflective, is still me sitting here at the kitchen counter, fingers on the keyboard, contemplating my ten years of daily slicing throughout March. 

In 2018, my post was exactly a slice, and it was again focused on Cecily. She has really gotten a lot of first-post airtime over the last few years. In 2018, she was close to driving, as opposed to 2022 when she is closing out her teen years. I was lamenting losing the intimate moments of driving her around, and I still miss those. Today as I sit on the eve of March 1, I’m probably closer to Cecily than I was when she was a regular occupant in my passenger seat, even though she is no longer sharing a nightly roof. 

Slicing doesn’t overwhelm me in 2022. With our four daughters busy with their own lives, my life has more time than it has in the past, and even if it didn’t, I know that I make time for what matters to me. Over the ten years, slicing has made me a more reflective person, challenging me to slow down and pay attention to events that may have otherwise drifted or even whizzed right by. I slow down in March, and I notice and savor and re-experience important moments. 

I’m happy to be here, and I’m looking forward to the connections and reconnections the month will bring.