31 Days of Reflection -- Reverb11 -- Day 1

 Last year I participated for the first time in Reverb10, a full month of daily writing prompts about 2010. It was an enlightening experience: I was able to put some things in perspecttive and begin to visualize what I wanted 2011 to be.

This year, Gwen Bell, one of the original founders, realized that the exercise had fulfilled its purpose for her and she opted to go in different directions. Others have taken up the challenge, creating e-mail subscription lists or other means of issuing a daily challenge to reflect on the 'Reverberations' of 2011.

One such list is here: if you do a Google search, you'll find others, and the prompts may not be quite the same. I'm subscribed to two lists: both had the same first prompt as does the link above.

With that, I give you this year's first prompt:


Prompt: One word: Encapsulate the year 2011 in one word. Explain why.
Imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?

Perseverance. That's my word for 2011, although it is not the word I'd hoped it would be,which was Renewal. I kept the home fires burning this year, bit by bit doing some of the decluttering (though by no means all) both mental and physical that I'd hoped to accomplish. Not a lot changed, actually. There was a lot of one-day-at-a-time thinking. There wasn't much new started; there was a lot of maintenance involved, and just getting through stuff, not much of it major (thank god/dess). 2011 was another year down, but not what I'm hoping to make these years that I have left of my life, however many those may be.

A year from today, I hope to immediately say that my word for 2012 was Transition. Tony retires early in 2012 and already is gearing down a lot by working from home several days each week, delegating responsibilities, and beginning to think in terms of what it is he wants to be doing in 2012. With his retirement, perhaps I'll find more of my own since his work will no longer govern what we do, when we do it, and what we are focusing on. In November 2012, we transition from group health insurance to Medicare, officially beginning our 'senior' years, I think, at least in the eyes of many. I expect 2012 to be a transition for both of us into the next stage of our lives.