Word of the Year 2022

Happy New Year! Each year I choose a word. A word to guide me in finding joy, to aid in overcoming anxiety, and to turn to in moments when I just need to find my way back into myself. Last year my word was patience – patience waiting for the vaccine, patience with my body while it grew a human, patience with cancelled plans, patience as we adapted over and over and over again. I learned how to float in a sea of uncertainty and…survive. Maybe even thrive. Sur-thriving? Can we make that a thing?

For 2022 I was feeling a bit lost. I’ve noticed that I feel most myself when I’m with Hadley and Olive, snuggled on our living room floor, making noises and goofy faces. When D and I are watching Hadley smear food all over her face during our morning solids. When I’m hiking in the woods with my little family, or going on a road trip to an out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere restaurant with Darrell at the wheel. There’s a joy in going with the flow and in all that is constantly changing, and I want to be reminded of that when I get frustrated with the harder parts of this parenthood gig, like *cough* sleep training *cough*. Are we sleep training right now, you ask? What gave it away?

I want a word that captures the magic that Hadley brings to my life and I found it! The word is whimsy. I’m still figuring out all that it means to me but for starters it means carefree, magically in the moment, and out of my ordinary. It makes me want to dress in bright colors, get creative behind the camera, and soak up every minute that I get with Hadley and Olive. It makes me feel ready to take on the year, even if that year is spent at home, riding out surge after surge of this awful disease. It makes me feel like I’ve got this. Happy New Year, friends!