I wanted to paint the feeling of letting go
But when you have a baby, nothing goes according to plan
and that’s part of letting go
so I asked AI to do it …
… and I don’t like it.
Which helped me understand that the word of the year isn’t actually letting go (it’s two words, first of all, and second of all, it’s so 2025 coded for me), it’s softness.
It’s accepting. It’s loving. It’s learning to be something different than what has made me successful for the previous forty years.
I am forever changed, and letting go of who I was, and learning who I am becoming. And that requires an amount of softness, of malleability, of openness, that I have seldom had to show. Sure, I am good at taking risks and trying things and there’s openness in that, but I’ve succeeded by being hard-charging, built on confidence in myself and the outcome.
This year will be about softness—still built on confidence in myself, but that I am enough, and that is enough. And that’s soft.
Last year, I knew I was pregnant when I chose Surprise and Delight as the year’s theme. It certainly was surprising—career, emotions, relationships AND A BABY—but this year, there’s an incredible amount of unknown. Perhaps more, even. So there’s some surprise and delight that will carry through. But I will be soft in receiving, and that’s 2026.
I’ll get to painting that, eventually.
Travelogue: Idaho Springs, Phoenix, Houston, Sun Valley & Boise Idaho, Bend, Idaho Springs, camping for anniversary where, solo Portland to Colorado road trip through Bend and Boise again plus Dinosaur National Monument, Idaho Springs, Playa del Carmen babymoon, Idaho Springs with baby and Bob, Fredericksburg, Bend with baby, Idaho Springs with baby, San Diego with baby, Park City with baby, Idaho Springs with baby, and wrapping up the year in Idaho Springs with baby!
Because travel still really matters to us.
2025 (Surprise and DELIGHT) | 2024 (Peace) | 2023 (L O V E) | 2022 (bright) | 2021 (grace) | 2020 (confidence) | 2019 (vulnerability) | 2018 (action) | 2017 (clarity) | 2016 (glitter) | 2015 (openness) | 2014 (is) | 2013 (happiness) | 2010 (the pretty)