Words to Define a Year: 2021

My beautiful, thoughtful, wonderful author friend Arlem Hawks posted on her Instagram account her word of the year. She's done this several years in a row, and after the disaster that was 2020, I've decided I want to join this tradition. 

But I'm terrible at following rules and guidelines, so I chose two words. (I'm also indecisive.) The two words I've chosen are HOPE and LIGHT. I thought about it for a while. They're simple words, and they've been part of my life for a long time, so purposefully embracing them for this coming year felt like the right thing. 

I immediately set on two quotes for my words, too. 

Light, of course, reminded me of Victor Hugo's quote which I've put above, with a photograph of two of my children playing in the light and water of the Atlantic Ocean. 

My other chosen word reminded me of the Emily Dickinson poem: 

“Hope” is the thing with feathers - (314)BY EMILY DICKINSON
“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.

What would your words be?