Pajama Day(s)

In which the Word for the Year bubbles up

It’s New Year’s Eve 2023. Gray and chilly outside, smells faintly of pecan pies in the house. My husband made two this morning, one to enjoy here and one to send home with our daughter’s boyfriend, who is bringing his mother’s delicious chocolate chip cookies as he did last year. Tonight we will go to a party, enjoy time with friends, eat, drink, be festive, count down, kiss hug and high five, drive home and sleep.

Today and tomorrow, though, are so full of…full of…ugh, words fail me. Some shoulds, but also permission not to. These days between December 26 and January 2nd are deliciously lazy if you want them to be. We got back from a family trip to Mexico early Thursday morning and I have delighted in not knowing what day it is. I binged I’ll Be Gone in the Dark and finished the last season of The Crown. I’m finishing R.F. Kuang’s brilliant Yellowface.

One thing I’ve rolled around in my brain these few days is my word / theme for 2024. Choosing a word / motto / theme for the new year is popular in solo entrepreneurship circles. I’ve made it part of my end of year rhythm, but have rules about it. No Shiny Happy Motivation words are allowed. I’ve had words like Sabbatical (for the year we moved, a year I knew would be challenging), and phrases like Follow Through, a reminder that before I start a new thing I need to build on the promise of what I’ve already created.

Because I use the word as part of my computer logins, forcing myself to type it several times daily thru the year, I don’t share it. I will tell you how I arrived at it and what games I’ve played with it thus far. I wanted a word that was a bit enigmatic. Using an online thesaurus, I considered several possibilities but finally found the perfect one. I could feel it in my gut. It’s a word I don’t necessarily like. It’s unsettling and restless. That feels right.

Next, research and reflection. Etymology led to earliest use in English (14c), Latin and Greek roots and spellings, use of the word in Shakespeare in both Hamlet (regarding Ophelia) and Othello (regarding Desdemona). Suddenly a lyric from Sondheim’s Into The Woods popped to mind: When first I appear, I seem mysterious / but when explained, I’m nothing serious. Interesting thing for The Mysterious Man to say, for he is three in one: a stranger, a long lost father, and a storyteller who gets pulled from the safety of his lectern onto the stage, straight into the drama, and fed to the giant. And let’s not forget, that giant is a woman.

Finally I googled different archaic spellings and happened upon a product with the same name, something I’d enjoy using. Turns out I had a credit I’d forgotten about that almost exactly offset the cost, so I ordered one. We’ll see what else appears in the days to come, but it’s fun to have a secret word, a game to play.

I don’t kid myself that choosing a word / theme gives me some kind of power over the future. 2024 will be what it will be. After all how many of us wrote things around this time in 2019, all about our plans and lists and goals, only to have the last laugh be on us?

What my word gives me is a thread, a prism, a tool, maybe some ballast for what promises to be a tumultuous year. Praying for peace in our world, in our country, in our homes and in our hearts in 2024.

Happy Healthy New Year, and thanks for reading.