One Word 365 Roundup (2021)

One year (and a few days) later, I am right back here. Haven't written (here, anyway) since the last post, and maybe that looks different next year - we shall see. It is time, however, for the OneWord365 review, and the launching off point for the word of 2022.

At the bottom, you can see my full OneWord365 journey. It's been an adventure. This year brings the 11th time I am focusing on one word, rather than a pile of resolutions, and I am grateful for the growth each word has brought in its own time. 

Some have brought habits that have continued (example, the sink tweets that started with RAW in 2017, and are still here), and some have served their purpose well but are no longer in the forefront of my decisions. That's how it works, I think - some things stick and some things move along. 

Checking in on 2021, the year of YES, AND. There's enough binary decision making going on in the world, that the perspective of multiple things being true at the same time was much needed.

A few specific things I tackled: 

1. "RunTheYear".  My friend Leslie decided she needed to get moving with a goal this year. She texted to tell me about it, and I decided some focus would be great. but 2021 miles in a year??  Uhhh. Hard.  I said YES it is hard, AND I will try anyway. Signed up at Run The Edge (link in case you want to try with us). Please note, there is not much running happening here. There is a lot of walking! We added my friend Anna, who it turns out had been doing this challenge for several years already. Headed out on Jan 1, got started, and hit the first goal (2021 miles!) in September. Then a friend, who shall remain publicly nameless, challenged me to 3,000 miles by the end of the year. YES that is bananas. AND I went for it anyway. Crossed 3,000 yesterday (good grief that was a lot of miles) and have rounded out this year with 3,006. YES, I signed up for next year. Changed the goals a little; this is a mission I am keeping.

3006 miles total. Photo from a walk in the North Carolina mountains this summer.

2. Saying farewell to the Bob Feller Act of Valor Award Foundation. I feel so grateful to have been able to volunteer with this organization for the last 7 years, several of which included time on the Board of Directors. YES, I love the people, the work, and the mission.  AND with much reflection and prayer, it is time for someone else to step in and continue. I will miss everyone a lot. I still plan to show up for their events. It's still time for others to lead, and I know they will do an amazing job. I look forward to seeing where they take it!

3. Planning for a trip (scheduled for spring 2022). YES covid is still here, making things a challenge, wreaking havoc on plans. AND my bestie and I are targeting a girls' trip, to walk-about the island of Mallorca. Cheers to her husband, my girls' dad & stepmom, and my folks, who will be holding down the fort while we log some miles and time together. Our families were supposed to vacation together in summer 2020. This has turned into the mamas only, next year. YES, Planning and choosing optimism in the face of so much *gesturing* of all this is hard. AND we choose to try anyway. 

A few general day to day applications

A. yes I am still tweeting about my sink. and it is still as motivating and accountablity holding for me as it was when I started in 2017

B. yes metro still has rotten service/reliability. and it's still mostly better than me navigating parking downtown. 

C. yes, I wanted the Nationals to win more games. And my guy is a Barves fan, so he's enjoying the World Series outcome

D. Yes, memories last forever. And saying goodbye when a beloved friend dies still hurts. 

E. Yes, getting up early is hard. (note, when I say early, I mean 4:15). AND doing this so that the miles are shared with friends is worth it. The best conversations, and the best sunrises are some of the rewards. 

Best sunrise of the year. Ida Lee Park, Leesburg, VA

F. Yes, it's hard when your team trades away the players you love. And it's ok to welcome the new guys. And to cheer for your traded guys on their new teams. AND not everyone agrees with that last sentence. Which is ok, because this is my word of the year :-) 

G. Yes, raising teens is hard. AND it's also wonderful, rewarding, and heart-growing. I love my girls to the moon and back.

YES, 2021 brought a bucket full of challenges, AND still we found some bright spots. Vaccines arrived (hooray), the girls were finally back in school in September (hooray), we did get some time with my family this summer (hooray)! We took a quiet vacation to the mountains of North Carolina and enjoyed hiking, rafting, AND I conquered my fear of heights long enough to do a hot air balloon ride, which WOW what an amazing way to view the world. 

And now, with the final sunset of 2021 on the horizon (farewell, so long, I am done), it's time to look ahead to the new year, and a new challenge. 

2022 is bringing a lot of change to our world. I have one kiddo about to be a fully licensed driver, and she's starting the college exploration path, and she will be a senior. (HOW DID THIS HAPPEN). My other one will start high school in the fall. And with this last year ahead, I want to make sure I pay attention to what's happening. Both the changes coming and the memories we're making. The big and the small. With the girls; with my family; with my friends. Tackling some new goals (2022 miles targeted in a different way), taking a more deliberate walk through Scripture with some additional focus time there. 

I mulled on a lot of words before one made itself very well known. 2022 is the year of EMBRACE. Reaching out and wrapping my arms around my people, memories, experiences, goals, learning, and the future. Both literally (lots of hugs on deck) and figuratively (a focused effort to pray specifically for people, one at a time, and some journaling of the things I see/learn/do/feel. The gratitude journal has arrived). 

Cheers to the new year; may yours be filled with grace, love, laughter, and hope. Embrace them every day.

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**My OneWord365 History**

2012 - brave
2013 - grace
2014 - journey
2015 - wait
2016 - pursue
2017 - raw
2018 - listen
2019 - balance
2020 - enough
2021 - YES, AND

2022 - EMBRACE

crossing the "finish line" of 2021 miles. Sept 16, 2021.
With walker buddies (and dear friends) Anna and Leslie

One Word 365 roundup

 Some other day we will get back to the 2017 spring break finishing. and the amazing 2019 world series championship from our beloved baseball team. And the years of OneWord 365 that I didn't publish.

(here's a history by the way)

2012 - brave
2013 - grace
2014 - journey
2015 - wait
2016 - pursue
2017 - raw
2018 - listen
2019 - balance
2020 - enough
2021 - (no I won't spoil it by putting it at the top. You will have to read the full post)

Let's start with how did ENOUGH play out for this year? 

I had intended to make this be an assessment of 
* am I doing enough (in the arenas of attention / engagement with my kiddos, growth and development at work, exploring interests I've long left by the wayside, focus on my relationship with one particular person, exercise/health attention)
* where am I doing more than enough - and therefore should cut back (in the arenas of volunteer work, leadership roles rather than helper roles behind the scenes)

Things started off slowly for my focus on all of these things in January. and then on March 11 everything changed. (that's the day my kids last went to school in person).  Enough took on a whole new spin, and rapidly at that.

I've spent the last 9 months focused on not the ideas I had, but also - what is enough with regard to physical distancing, wearing a mask, locking down before seeing family members. What is enough with regard to physical space - we learned that our landlords were selling our rental property that we were living in, and we moved. I am HUGELY GRATEFUL for a new-to-us place in the same neighborhood, with a fantastic configuration to support this work from home mama AND a space for each kiddo to do school at home. (Did I mention they are still school at home? They will be until the end of this school year. At least. I am hopeful that ENOUGH people will be vaccinated to facilitate a return to fully in person learning by fall 2021). I spend time each morning digging up enough energy to get through that day. 

We are weathering current circumstances better than many, and I am grateful for that as well. I learned we had more than enough stuff, so we did a wonderfully freeing purge when we moved. I was reminded that even as we mask up and stay apart, my village showed up to do enough of the heavy lifting to help the move be easier than expected. 

As for the volunteer time, that looks a little different, but I did assess where I was over extended and culled that back to be what feels like the right level of commitment for now. And made a note to revisit every year holistically, as well as every time someone asks for volunteers. I think this has been a welcome change.

As for the enough time invested in the kids - I think I struck a good balance of partnering with them in the new school-at-home-and-everything-looks-different-and-I-miss-my-friends-and-where-is-normal-mom situation, but not hovering too much. Though they might disagree a bit. (or a lot). They've grown a lot in their independence. Everyone takes turns cooking dinner (full meals with fancy stuff even) and doing dishes now. That's been a blessing - as it means I can put in my work hours doing the day, and don't have to go back online after dinner most days. Which in turn has allowed me to put some more time into reading - one of those things I love so much and didn't spend nearly enough time doing in the several years leading up to this one. 

And as every single day brings something else in 2020 (today there's a power outage in town so half of the teachers and school kids can't even log on to the school programs), I think we all want to say enough is enough, and look forward to the brighter days ahead. 

Which brings me to the word of 2021.  We all spend a lot of time in "either or" mode. Things must be one way or the other. If this one thing is true then some other thing cannot also be true. The world is not a two outcome place. Real life is not always either / or.  Therefore, in this coming year, I am looking at it from the perspective of  "YES, AND".  ( YES, I know that is two words AND there are no rules in OneWord365.) So often we hear "yes, but..."   I am changing the conjunction of focus to and.  

As we enter the last 9 days of 2020 - may you find enough love to carry you over the threshold to a new year, with vaccines, hope, renewed purpose and brighter days.  Consider joining the friendly folks at oneword365 and seeing if a word focus rather than a resolution focus changes where you might be headed. 

With love from here, I wish 2020 a (not so fond) farewell (and a swift kick in the pants for good measure) and  2021 a warm welcome. 

2021: Yes, and. 

Day 4 - Listen

I like watching baseball, playoff baseball in particular. Live at the ballpark is my favorite, but watching from home on TV is also fun for me. Even better than the watching, though, is the listening.

We are fortunate in DC to have a FANTASTIC pair of radio people - Charlie (Slowes) and Dave (Jagler). They really bring the game to life with details and then an array of facts and baseball trivia and interesting tidbits to fill in all the in between. 

I let the girls listen when they go to bed if there's a game on. We listen when we're in the car. And I keep the radio up and the TV down when the Nats are on TV here. Charlie and Dave are my favorite baseball companions. 

Late last season, the Nats did a giveaway of a radio lanyard. This clever thing is a lanyard with a small radio built into a reversible single headphone. The wonder of this is that with it, while you are live at the ballpark, you can put Charlie and Dave right in your ear, no delay. It lets you get the detail you missed when watching. It lets you hear what's going on when you can't quite figure it out from the stands (he was ejected? why? ) I also use it when I want to tune out the chatter from some folks sitting around me. 

I listen to Charlie and Dave almost every night of the season when I am not at the ballpark. This year I have LOVED being able to listen to them while I am live there also. 

I got my hands on a few extras - one for each of the girls. A used it while we were at the Wild Card game this week and said it helped her track stuff better as well. Big win all around for the added gift of listening to the radio live at the ballpark.

Day 3 - Problem

Today's prompt is PROBLEM.  And I have a problem ... I am drawing a blank here. Interesting. I usually reason so hard and through so many permutations when trying to think through solutions that I wear myself to the point of exhaustion.

Today - the opposite. My brain is off. Perhaps that's too many late nights in a row (thanks playoff baseball - YAY and too much homework on practice nights for the girls - BOO). 

I am amused - it's been a long time since I felt like there was NOTHING happening in my brain. Sure sign I need to go to bed.

Although - another positive of my lack of topical thought here, I guess, is that there aren't any major pressing problems in my inner brain circle tonight. That should make a restful night in a few minutes. (CHEERING!!!).

So, with that I'll say - glad I made the effort to throw a few non important words on the page tonight to keep the streak going. That will help me want to write tomorrow. And keep me on track for all 31 days.

Goodnight friends.

Day 2 - Gift

Last night was a baseball game here in DC. My favorite team playing in a one game winner-take-all Wild Card game.

with our friend K, (left) before the game

Baseball as I've often written is my safe space. When I need to reset my brain (redirect, actually) or when I need to do some hard thinking, I do it best at the ballpark.

None of that was happening last night. The whole night was super intense. At least for me. My youngest got to come along with me. Oldest had a game with her varsity team and she made the right (if hard) choice to stay with the team. 

the view from our seats as the Nationals celebrated their win

We trekked down to the ballpark, smooshed in our little Subaru outback with friends. We watched the ebb and flow of the game. The horror of the early home runs against us. The glee of the home run as we tried to come back. The middle innings of good pitching and NO HITTING.  And then as we were down to our final 5 outs, the tide turned. You can read about it and listen to the radio call. 

And after it had turned, and the crowd roared all through it - the loudest I've ever heard my ballpark in person, and after the last fly ball was caught, we exhaled. And we screamed. We cheered and high-fived with strangers. A playoff win. A move forward to the next round.

a bunch of my in real life Nats friends, cheering with the win! 

And the gift of celebrating it with real life friends and stranger but family fan friends. There is little that compares to a playoff win. And the joy that comes when you share it? A gift of a memory to last a lifetime.

Day 1 - Why

Well, this is an appropriate prompt to start with! Why write? Why share my words from my head with friends (or even random internet strangers)? 

For me, sometimes I write (when I make the time) to help make sense of the jumble of thoughts in my brain. Sometimes it is to record some things we did so that I can share with my family (see the unfinished spring break posts) and friends so that I don't repeat myself, or so that far away friends can see and share in our adventures. Or so that I don't forget a memory that I later want to share with the kids. 

Occasionally I write because I am bored and need to refocus on something. Or because I've been meaning to call and catch up with someone but due to time zones and crazy schedules, it is ALWAYS the wrong time to call them. My bestie lives in Seattle.  I don't need to wake her at 4:12a just to ask how her kids are adapting to new schools. She would answer, every time I call, but that is hardly an emergency. So instead I write an email.

And sometimes I write here because it helps me keep a commitment or dust off some rusty skills that may need to be re-engaged. Maybe there's something I need to let out that I can't even put my finger on yet.  Or maybe I just need to see if I cam muster up the energy to make this a regular habit again. I was on a roll for a while and then for 2 years --- ZILCH. And I have missed the writing. And I have missed hanging out with the FMF community on Thursday nights. Life got in the way. 

As fall arrives this year, and I think about what 2019 has brought so far, it's brought a lot of new connections, but also a reminder that there are some old connections I have been missing more than I realized.  So thanks, Kate, for this chance to oil the rusty joints and reach back out to the FMF fun. Glad to be back.  And glad to see the why can still drive me to action.

31 Days of Five Minute Friday

Dusting off the keys again. And wading into the 31 days writing challenge again.  Not sure how it will go, but maybe it will get me back into a writing groove.  (Maybe I will finish the spring break 2017 posts.... )   We shall see.

Anyway, this year, I am joining Kate and the Five Minute Friday crowd, for 31 days of Five Minute Friday posts.  5 minutes a day - of whatever comes to mind on the topic presented.  This will be the landing page, where all the posts of this exercise can be found.  I've tried it 2 or 3 times before, and I seldom make it past day 10, but I have some energy and motivation this time to try and get to the end. Once I get there, it's wedding day!  (for my brother, not me).  So we can conclude, have a fun weekend and then maybe I will circle back and share the amazingness of welcoming Michelle to our family.

See below for the planned adventure of this month. And come join us on any day you like.  Cheers to a new month of fun with some of my favorite on line writing pals.

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Day 1 - Why
Day 2 - Gift
Day 3 - Problem
Day 4 - Listen
Day 5 - Other
Day 6 - Notice
Day 7 - Same
Day 8 - Gather
Day 9 - Join
Day 10 - Scored
Day 11 - Deep
Day 12 - First
Day 13 - Reach
Day 14 - Voice
Day 15 - Open
Day 16 - Avoid
Day 17 - Consistent
Day 18 - Active
Day 19 - Strong
Day 20 - Tell
Day 21 - Person
Day 22 - Sense
Day 23 - Need
Day 24 - Different
Day 25 - Wait
Day 26 - Accept
Day 27 - Better
Day 28 - Rest
Day 29 - Practice
Day 30 - Memory
Day 31 - Enjoy