It’s been quite a year, 2019. My husband Raymond was hospitalized twice. I saw people I care about experience difficult times. I also watched the world political scene with increasing concern and became more alarmed about the escalating climate crisis.

On the flip side, Raymond had a good fall health-wise. I resumed exercising after a hiatus of several months, made progress on my memoir, and marveled at the many good things that still happen in the world.

Throughout all the ups and downs of the year, one thing was constant: this blog. Regardless of weather, my schedule, or my mood, I managed to publish something every Sunday morning with the exception of a few weeks in the fall when I took time off to go to Greece.

Now as 2019 winds down, I find myself thinking ahead to 2020 and what I hope to accomplish. One thing you’ll notice is that I’ve updated the look of my blog. It’s good to re-invent and refresh from time to time. This also means I’ll be making a few other changes in my life. Nothing huge but some things I hope will put me on a good trajectory for the decade ahead.

However, 2020 isn’t here yet, and there’s one more blog post to finish up the year. On that note, I decided to do something I’ve never done before: I decided to share my top 5 blog posts of 2019.

How did I determine the top five? Certainly not based on data analytics. Rather, I used an unscientific but somewhat reliable method: the five posts that got the biggest number of comments on Facebook and through email.

If you’ve already read these posts and don’t want to read them again, that’s ok. I’ll see you in 2020. But if you missed one, here’s your chance to catch up.

Here they are in ascending order…

5

I wrote Cereal and a Flower Bed in November. This piece will likely find its way into my memoir in one form or another. It was a popular post, and I suspect that’s because people can relate to stories of struggle. And let’s be honest, we all struggle.

4

I never thought that a historical piece about my grandfather and uncle’s grocery store would prove so popular, but it was. When I published MacMillan’s Clover Farm in July, I received a number of emails from people sharing their memories of the store.

3

Another July post was Why So Personal. In this post, I talked about why I had gotten more personal in a lot of my writing. Of course, I’ll never reveal everything about my life, not even when I write my memoir, but I think the more real we are, the more genuine connections we can make. Remember, we all have our faults and failings.

2

I was pleased to see that May’s #GetLoud for Mental Health ended up being my number two post of 2019 because mental health is a cause near and dear to my heart. In this post, I talked about anxiety and the fact that I had a setback this past year. The good news, though, is that when I resumed exercising 5 to 6 days a week, my anxiety all but disappeared.

And now the drumroll….

The top blog post of 2019…

1

Hannah! In November, I wrote about my daughter Hannah, and I have to say, the number of comments was out of the park. I never had more reaction to any post I’ve written. Yay, Hannah! A young woman following her dream is obviously a popular topic.

I want to thank each and every one of you who has taken the time to read my blog in 2019. I write as a hobby to keep myself happy but I also write for you. Whether you read one or all of my posts this year, I appreciate your interest and support.

A new year. A new decade. Let’s make it great!

THANK YOU!

P.S. Click on the three bars in the upper left corner and then click on Home. Let me know what you think of the new look by emailing me at [email protected].