My One Little Word for 2021

Last December, I loved my word for 2020. Wow. It seemed like a word with so many possibilities, so many meanings, so much flexibility. Little did I know how many moments of wow the year would bring. Little did I know how many different reasons I'd say the word wow. Little did I like how many wows involved head shakes and closed eyes.

This will be the ninth year that I've chosen a word, and this has been the year when I've had the most trouble. My words are all important to me, some more than others. I'd even like to take on some of them again-- is that allowed? -- but I have been trying to come up with a word that is new, a word that will lead me to grow. My favorite words have historically offered a double meaning. Think about the different ways to use the word present, or brave, or rest. My wow of 2020 didn't go so well in terms of all the meanings, so I'm a little less resistant to a word with a single meaning.

Even though it's becoming a cliché, I think it's fair to say that 2020 taught me a lot. My best parts of 2020 happened when I focused on being present in a moment. Since I have already used present as a word, my word for 2021 will be moment. I like it. It has the power to ground me, to make me pay attention, to remind me to be present and prioritize the people in front of me and the place where I am. And, in a very small way, one that is perhaps only immediately apparent to me, it has a connection to my wow of 2020. If you ask me about that connection, maybe I'll share!

So here it is, my word for 2021: Moment.

May my moments matter. May I stop to enjoy them. May I find the joy that the pause for moments has the power to provide.

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Slice of Life: A Greater Appreciation for a Colander

     I'm doing my best to keep up with slicing on Tuesdays! All are welcome! Join us at Two Writing Teachers!

"Where did that colander come from?" Larkin asked as I drained the pasta. "And what are the designs in it? I love them!"

I transferred the pasta, and the two of us studied the pattern of holes. Stars, we agreed. I love Larkin's appreciation for both current, trending items and also old classics. She embraces eclecticism!

"They were my grandmother's," I said, pulling out the matching colander and holding them up for Larkin to appreciate. 

Larkin is home for a couple of weeks, and it's a new home. She hasn't been here since we moved in March, and before then, many of our belongings, colander included, had been in boxes for several years. That's another story and slice, but I do remember unpacking the colander and being happy to see it. Not everything has to be new. Not everything is better new. 

And the truth was, I had never really studied and appreciated the colanders until Larkin's noticing. Leave it to her to notice as an artist and appreciator of patterns and design. That being said, I always reach for my old colanders as opposed to the new and shiny one from Bed Bath and Beyond. Thinking about it, there's something about the weight, the smoothness, and the shape that works better than the newer ones. And there's also something about having Tippie's colander in my kitchen. 

A few nights later, the girls were making pizza, and a friend with four much younger kids wanted to see what her future might hold, so I snapped a shot of the girls stretching the dough and chopping up toppings. 

"That colander!" was her response. Her grandmother had that colander as well. 

I love that a colander-- a tool that is for straining and cleansing-- has inspired memories, appreciation, and connections. 

Happy Slicing,

Slice of Life: The Girls Are Home

    I'm doing my best to keep up with slicing on Tuesdays! All are welcome! Join us at Two Writing Teachers!

The girls are home. 

There's chocolate cake 

Baked at 10.

(That's 10 p.m.)

And workouts that include

Too many abs

And frog jumps,

And burpees. 

There are debates over whether

to watch

The Bachelorette because 

it's home visits

or

The season finale of The Voice. 

There a new Taylor Swift album

Instead of my 

new Bruce Springsteen album,

And seltzer cans, empty,

On the piano

After a session of 

Playing and singing and composing.

 

There's extra laundry,

And extra crumbs,

And extra dishwasher loads,

And extra noise. 

And 

extra, 

extra,

joy. 

The girls are home. 

Slice of Life: How is it only December?

 

   I'm doing my best to keep up with slicing on Tuesdays! All are welcome! Join us at Two Writing Teachers!

In an email I wrote to teachers, I included the line: How is it already December tomorrow?  I reread it, thought about it, and I deleted that line. 

Maybe what I really meant, and as I sit here and write this post on the morning of December 1, how is it only December? 

If I think back to a year ago, my youngest daughter was waiting for a college acceptance. Since then, she's graduated, deferred, worked harder than she ever has, and has become a fitness junkie as well as a foodie. But wait, let's just consider 2020. 

 

It's hard to believe that in January 2020, there were only a few rumblings of a virus in China. Little did I know...  In January 2020, I was picking paint colors for the house we were building and would move into on March 9,  just before one of my best friend's husband's 400 person funeral a day later. And just before the state shut down four days later. And just before my third daughter came home early from her semester abroad six days later. 

How could that week have happened less than nine months ago? 

I could keep going with 2020: the highs and lows-- the game nights, toilet paper crises, Zoom sessions, family hikes, election results, new puppies... (yes, that's plural, as we got one and so did my mother. That's another post.) It's just hard to believe it's only December. 

I wonder what the response would have been if I had written: How is it only December?

My guess is that the teachers would have more than understood.

Slice of Life: Saturday's first round of crying

   The school year has started, and my slicing life is back on track. All are welcome! Join us at Two Writing Teachers!

What a week!

There are historical events that have happened in my life, and I know exactly where I was at the time. On Saturday morning, I was in the passenger seat somewhere between Wellesley and Newton. For a variety of reasons, Garth and I were going back and forth between CNN news and FOX news as we listened to the turmoil around counting votes in swing states. We were listening to FOX when there was an announcement that Biden was declared the winner. 

"Did you hear that?" I asked. "Did they just say what I think they said?"

I started to get shaky, and I clicked the dial to CNN. 

Van Jones' interview had just started. As he talked about it being easier to be a dad, I thought I heard his voice crack, and my eyes filled up. As it became apparent that he was crying, even through the radio, the tears poured down my cheeks. 

Garth looked over at me. "Are you crying?" he asked. 

Yes I was. 

I had many more crying moments throughout the day as waves of emotion came through. Those were waves I'll savor. Waves of such. great. relief. 

Slice of Life: Election Day Morning 2020

   The school year has started, and my slicing life is back on track. All are welcome! Join us at Two Writing Teachers!

It's 5:15, and I've been up for a while.

Maybe it's the time change.

Maybe I'm distracted and disturbed by the Queen's Gambit. 

I haven't been so hooked on a show since Scandal, 

and I had MUCH more time to binge when I watched Kerry Washington 

take on politicians and corruption. 

Speaking of which...

Today's the day I, 

in my own small part, in a town in a state 

that matters very little to the overall outcome, 

get a chance to take on 

politicians and corruption. 

In a few minutes, 

I will sign off from the computer for a while. 

I will go wake up my husband, 

dry my hair, start the coffee, walk the dog... 

And then we will go vote. 

Yes, I could have voted by mail, 

but I was too worried 

about last minute changes 

or something making my vote not count. 

Irrational, I know. 

In a state that is solidly blue,

 my vote matters very little on the national level, 

but still. 

Sometimes everyone can be subject 

to a little irrationality. 

And then, like many...

I will watch.

And hope. 

Slice of Life: A Zucchini Story Within a Story

  The school year has started, and my slicing life is back on track. All are welcome! Join us at Two Writing Teachers!

On the screen in front of me, I watched William start to giggle. 

"What?" I asked. 

He turned off his mute. "That's not how it happened," he said. "I actually just ate the zucchini, but this is really funny to watch how other people make up the story."

I was working with three fifth-graders who haven't been writing much, so we had brainstormed a quick beginning-middle-end story and each of them were taking a part of it to write. The winner of the brainstorm was when William had tasted zucchini. (I had asked them about a time when they had to eat something they didn't like. Sometimes it's tricky to find a story everyone can relate to for a shared story writing session. Most kids have had to eat something they weren't too sure of!)

"I just counted to ten and ate it," William said. "It wasn't that bad."

I went into the writing piece through the shared Google doc, and I also began adding to the story, finding a place to begin a count. 1-2-3, I wrote. Mom will not let me get up if I don't taste it. When I get to ten, I'll do it, I thought to myself. 4-5-6---- I left off, and William took over, having fun with what he COULD have been thinking. 

After ten minutes, the three of them could not believe the story they created. William had written the beginning, but Annabelle and Rashka had taken over the middle and the end, all working on the document simultaneously.

"I didn't know tasting zucchini could be such a good story," William said. 

What a great thing to realize!

Happy Slicing,