2011 - in Words

There's a Facebook gadget called "Year in Status". The program will (allegedly) look at your status updates over the past year and pull out the most frequently used words, making them into a "cloud map" sort of image.

The past year held challenges galore for me, so I thought it would be interesting to see how my status updates mapped out into the image.

Alas, it appears all the program did was to look at my five most recent status updates and throw some of those words into the mix. And that really had nothing.at.all to do with what my year was like.

So I just went into Photoshop and pondered the past year.

Here's how the year mapped out, in my mind.

At the center of my world is this wonderful relationship I have with the Jazzman. He lights up every corner of my world. Second to him are my grandchildren, who hold my heart in their sweet little hands. My singing with the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus rounds out the center of my world. (And I mustn't forget my kitties, who keep me company every day.)

Continuing to explore this cloud:

• Travel - a fabulous trip to Ireland and our yearly 4th of July at Lake Erie.


• Work - many enjoyable hours keeping the Covelli Panera website up-to-date.


• Activities - hours spent knitting, sewing, beading, and other works-with-hands.


• Social Life - we have an astounding group of friends; some combination of these wonderful people have dinner together almost every Saturday night.

Hanging over and dimming the beauty of the year (these words are shown in a deep gray, upside down and backwards, to diminish their power over my life:

• Mother's Broken Hip - many hours and many miles behind the wheel; every second or third week driving to Asheville all summer long


• Vandals - Rocks - Broken Windows - three times during December, my living room windows were broken by vandal(s) throwing rocks. My sense of peace and security has been shattered. It's once of the worst incidents of my life.


• Loss of Income - my client base decreased and my income seriously dropped, leaving me worried about how I was going to pay my bills for several months out of the year. At age 61, I felt this was not a place I should have landed, and it caused much despair. I was able to toss some balls in the air and catch them adroitly, so things actually came out better than they were before. But there were many, many days when my financial stress level was through the roof.

And over it all, a heart. Next week will be two years since the Jazzman and I met. I have never known 365 continuous days—much less 730 continuous days— of comfort and contentment and love and acceptance and support. He is a miracle in my life, and my heart overflows with joy for our life together.

That's my year.