My first Christmas without Jim has passed – and spending it in the hills of Tennessee with my brother and sister-in-law was the very best thing I could have chosen to do. Quiet. Peaceful. Plenty of childhood reminiscing. Lots of trees and deer, a horse that visits, and their furry son, Dexter, to help me not miss my Sheila girl too much.  And their home is filled to the brim with holiday spirit. I’ve loved it all.

I’ll be ready to return to the desert this week, but I’ll be coming back with my heart healed a bit more than it would have been had I just stayed home and tried to ignore the holidays.

And as this year comes to a close, I am grateful to still be standing. Literally. I fell down the stairs at my brother’s house last night. Luckily, I didn’t break anything. Just stiff and sore and bruised this morning. Ah, the joys of aging hits once again.

So now it’s time to choose my ‘Word of the Year’.  I’ve been doing this since 2012 – and most years my chosen word has actually been a rather perfect word for me.

My 2025 Word was FAITH and that was definitely what kept me standing during this really hard year. Jim’s health deteriorated rather quickly. So many doctors, ER visits, infections, medications, very heavy caregiving as his GI system jumped into the fray, and that final hospitalization followed by his last 36 hours at home.

Then came the issues with his family. And with the utilities. And the VA. All because I was the second wife and we hadn’t made some of the changes after his first wife died and we married. Sigh.

I’m definitely ready for 2025 to be in my rearview mirror. And my 2026 word sounds like just what I need.

S E R E N I T Y

se·ren·i·ty

noun:  the state of being calm, peaceful, and untroubled

Here’s to a year filled with peace, hope, and maybe even a little bit of unexpected joy thrown in there. It may not be possible every day, but I’m going to try to look for those moments to appear.