Today is 16 years blogging! Sweet Sixteen!
Sixteen years isn’t just a milestone for the number of years. It also represents a dividing line. I blogged for eight years and a few months on my old blog, when it was Anali’s First Amendment. Now the number of years on this domain, Anali’s Next Amendment, is also eight years.
April 29th is not only my blogging anniversary, it’s also the day I choose my word for the year.
When thinking about this new word, what first came to mind was that people enter our lives for a reason, a season or a lifetime. It’s up to us to figure out the difference. That discernment is part of our life’s work.
I started thinking about how a season is really quite short — just three months. But each season repeats in an endless cycle of seasons. I think this deep noticing of seasons comes with age. Because after living through so many cycles of seasons, we notice them more. That might be a reason why I was drawn to reflect on the seasons with the year long Collection of Moments project.
Life is all about the seasons of it. Like that Frank Sinatra song, “It Was A Very Good Year.” He reflects on being 17, 21, 35, and then the autumn of his years. It’s such a beautiful song — his sharing memories of these four seasons of his life. And yet season can take on other meanings.
I grew up learning to well season my food. Using spices and herbs to season our food improves taste and increases our enjoyment. Baking oil onto a cast iron pan, seasoning, prevents rusting and preserves it.
After thinking about the word season, I thought that I might have already used it as a word of the year. It seemed so obvious. But after looking back, I had not. So, I guess the word hadn’t been right before. It is now. ‘Tis the SEASON.
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Links to posts for past years are below. Thank you for being here!
Yours is one of the very few blogs I still follow, maybe the only one from the good old days! Keep on blogging and I hope we will meet one day!❤️
Ilva – Thank you so much! That means a lot. The blogging landscape sure has changed since the beginning! I hope we get to meet too! I’m so eager to travel again, but still COVID cautious at this point. If you’re ever in the New England area, let me know.
Congrats, Lisa, on your 16 years. Love the new word.
Aine – Much appreciated! I thought you might like it!
Congrats on your achievement. Keep enjoying your work
Laura – Thank you! Definitely will!