In a Word…

“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” Mark Twain

“Words are, in my not so humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic.” Albus Dumbledore

“Brevity is the soul of wit.” William Shakespeare

With these quotes in mind, I performed my annual year-in-review journal entry. I typically list the months out and write anything notable that I remember. I then synthesize these lists into prose describing my year — this is basically my Christmas update. But then I went a step further. If I had to summarize my year in a sentence or even in a single word, how would I do it? I do this to make things memorable. I cannot for any length of time recall the lists of things that happened each month, but I can remember a phrase or a word linked to a year for much longer. I can identify periods of time in my life: forge steadily onward, movement and planting, healing and hope, uncertainty, longing for home, or new beginnings. Each word or phrase conjures a specific time and brings with it floods of memories. Each helps me organize my own life’s timeline.

Image: thewallpaperz.com
Image: thewallpaperz.com

If I could edit Shakespeare, (what gall!) I could revise the first quote to read, “Brevity is the soul of memory.” and that would be true as well.

So, drumroll please, If I had to summarize 2013 in a single word, it would be: Adulthood.

How about you? What would your summarizing word or phrase be for this year?

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