Slice of Life 2026: 31 of 31- A Writing Family

In March, Two Writing Teachers hosts the Slice of Life Story Challenge. Everyone is welcome to share writing and comment on others in this special community. 

Each year, March 31 hits me with a sense of relief, a feeling of pride, deeper connections, and also a bereftness. I love the daily routine of not only writing, but also living on alert for possible slices. Each year, I've tried to duplicate the awareness of daily moments that exists for me in March. Over the months in between, that awareness fades. Maybe I'll put reminders into my calendar this year to notice moments now and then, to harvest the slices that emerge from my daily life and interactions. Those moments are always there, and I have the documentation of them within many years of daily March slicing. My new life of managing my own business offers me a little more time to pause and appreciate slice-worthy moments. My word for 2026 is laugh, and for anyone thinking about taking on a one little word, I'm loving it as a focus. Laughing begets laughing. It's a fun word to live with! I think that more of my 2026 slices have included laugh-worthy moments. I love that. 

I have also loved being a part of several small communities over the month. Thursday night group, I wish I had been there every time! You're amazing, and it has been special to get to know you through conversations and not only through posting and commenting. 

I've gotten to experience slicing differently at the end of this month. Many of you know that my daughter Larkin, the beautiful face on the right, has been slicing since she was fifteen. When she first started, she was attending school in Spain. (Long story). And then, when she was slicing, she was in college. Since graduating from college, she has not lived home, so we have not been in the same slicing space during the many months of March. You might also know Clare, the beautiful face on the left, who has lived home for about a year in between work and what-nextness. I get her for a few more months before she starts her PhD program in August. She has also been a daily slicer. Julia, who was taking a shower at the time of the picture, also has tapped in for some March slicing, but she dwindled a bit. As a medical student, she gets a pass! 

In a serendipitous fashion, all four of my daughters are home this week. We snapped this picture last night after Clare finished her 30th slice sitting on the couch to my right, and Larkin finished her slice on the chair to my left. I kind of could guess what they were both writing about, but it's so fun to read their interpretations and asides on moments we've shared. We all talk to each other a lot, and we know the stories that could be slices ahead of time. "There's my slice for the day," is a regular refrain in March. But somehow, writing and reading and commenting, both in person and through the blogs, provides insights and leads to other conversations. We're a family who writes. 

Julia's boyfriend is coming today, and he will meet Clare, Cecily, and Garth for the first time. We thought about pranking Omar with something along the lines of saying the Pledge of Allegiance before dinner. After bantering about some ideas, we landed on having notebooks and pens at the table for family writing time as part of our dinnertime rituals. We may do that. And it would probably be funny. I'd laugh, and that's my 2026 word. 

And it's also what we do. We're a family who writes. 

Thanks to all who have written with me, commented, and shared their stories during the SOLSC of 2026. I look forward to Tuesdays and to future months of March.