As a kid, my parents played the “Christmas in America” album every holiday. It was one of their favorites. Yet it’s the song “What Will The New Year Bring,” sung beautifully by Anne Murray, that is playing in my head as we prepare to wrap up 2023.

Each year, I choose a word–well, as a matter of fact, a word chooses me. It starts showing up in November and then gets insistent that I pay attention and notice it in December. I try to ignore it–certain it has me confused with someone else. But it keeps showing up until I admit it’s speaking to me. And thus, that word and I sign up for a one year relationship. No matter what happens, I will stick with this word. No matter how I don’t feel its touch or meaning–no matter if it resonates in what’s happening in my life or I agree with it, I will abide by our commitment.

The Word of 2023 was PEACE.

Now, I don’t know what Peace had in mind when it sought me out. Perhaps it was a nod from Emerson who stated:

“Nobody can bring you Peace but yourself.”

Anyway, if you go by the general definition, 2023 did certainly not seem to be a very peace-filled year. From January through July, the calendar was dominated by my daughter Paige’s high school senior year activities–Drama Club rehearsals and performances (along with my own intense and heavy duties as Booster Club President), Choir concerts, Dance classes and recitals, the year end celebratory banquets, Honors Choir, Prom, Graduation, Honors Convocation, and the grand finale piece de resistance which I’d been planning for 18 years … The Graduation Party. Lots to do. Lots going on. You don’t even want to peak at our May calendar!

Amidst all that activity were health challenges for my parents; clearing out their house of items that didn’t make the cut, selling it, and settling them in a new, more manageable apartment in a retirement community; 63 events to handle at a job I passionately love; home improvements; travels back and forth to Carmel; prep and moving Paige in to GVSU; and just the day-to-day “life” stuff. Then, as the year drew to its dramatic close, we lost Dad to an unexpected and very aggressive cancer.

Not very PEACE-filled.

However, the Word that chooses me isn’t saying: “Hey look, this is what I will bring you in the coming year.” Instead, it’s saying “Hey look, this is what you need to be on the look-out for in the coming year.” It is saying: This is what you need to seek, to watch for, to claim, to find, to embrace, to settle into, to choose. It’s reminding me: This is what you need to hold on to if you want to continue to grow emotionally, mentally, and spiritually and become the woman you are meant to be within this crazy world.

So, perhaps there is truth to immortal words of Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride:

“You keep using that word … I do not think it means what you think it means.

PEACE took me on a roller coaster ride in 2023. Yet, it was there in the darkness as well as the light. It was there on my Yoga mat. It could be found in outings with friends, in conversations, in texts, in email messages, in morning mediations, and at church. It resided in the laughter enjoyed in moments with family and in coffee time with my cat. It was there in the faces of our friends and family–and Paige’s friends–at the rainy day Grad Party when rain was NOT part of my plan. It could be found during a spa day and lounging at a trailer by a lake. It could be found watching Jeopardy, amidst a family game night, during Bodman events, in a bookstore beside my son, in the audience as I watched my daughter perform, and in companionable, quiet evenings at home with my husband. It could be found in wonderful meals and listening to mom play piano. It was found in cards and letters from friends–unexpected calls and gestures of kindness or compassion. And, it was there as I held dad’s hand and bid him goodbye for now. It was there there throughout every aspect of my journey in 2023.

Om Shanti Om. Peace in body, peace in mind, peace in speech, peace in spirt. That’s a wrap. And no matter what I think about it, PEACE and I traveled hand in hand in 2023 ,and I am changed for the better because of our time together.

So, onto a New Year. The word that has chosen me for 2024 is no less gentle. And it arrives amidst preparations for Dad’s Celebration of Life and all that is associated with his passing, including planning that Celebration and cleaning things up and out of his apartment. It arrives amidst other struggles and life happenings. It arrives during a time I keep referring to as Messy. And I look ahead and, as Anne Murray did, and wonder: What Will The New Year Bring?

The Word for 2024 is JOY.

Not sure where that word will lead me in 2024. It may also be a challenging journey. Guess I will find out. But Joy is different from “Happiness.” Joy can be a choice. Joy can be found amidst the messy. At least that’s what I have learned from the Christmas Story and Birth of Christ when there was no room in the comfy, cozy, clean inn.

No, my word isn’t something that can be measured, but it may be something that can truly be experienced–in its own way. It can provide a light in the darkness and order when things get messy–as they are wont to do.

My daughter asked me last night about my Word so, as 2023 wraps up and 2024 awaits, here is my message to her. It’s a variation on a much-loved article published in The New York Sun in 1897. Perhaps this might be a message that you share with someone dear to you.

Yes, Paige, there is JOY to be found. It exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no JOY! It would be as dreary as if there were no Paige …

Happy New Year, dear Readers. May 2024 bring you JOY as well … whatever that might mean.

— Jenni