In late December/early January, many people look back over the year, reflect on its highs and lows, or create some kind of tally.
Sometimes, tallies are created for us, such as Words With Friends, which I have played for 13 years, helpfully telling me I made 8,875 moves in 2024. In my early years of WordPress blogging, they would send us each an annual wrap-up, which I enjoyed. Theoretically, I could put some stats together myself, but I don’t have the wherewithal to manage it.
Some of my poet/writer friends would tally their publications – and rejections – for the year. Given how 2024 went for me, the lists of both would be short, as would the list of completed poems, although I am very grateful that I managed to attend the Boiler House Poets Collective week-long residency at The Studios at MASS MoCA.
My 2024 was mostly taken up with personal and family health issues and my spouse B preparing for his retirement from IBM, which has now happened.
We begin 2025 in uncertainty. With daughter T and I still struggling to find full diagnoses and treatment, what we had imagined B’s retirement to look like is not going to be enacted, at least, not right away.
None of this is helped by the huge uncertainty about what will unfold when DT becomes US president again on Jan.20.
My father used to say “One day at a time” a lot. I am, though, by nature a planner, so I had trouble with the concept.
Now, sometimes, I feel that things are moment-to-moment or that time is somehow suspended or irrelevant.
So, yeah, 2025.
Guess I’ll strive for one day at a time…
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Join us for Linda’s Just Jot It January! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/01/07/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-7th-2025/
Joanne Corey 