Specifically, this year. Here are some highlights of 2018, one post per month:

January

At the beginning of the year, I was still dealing with a very, very difficult interpersonal relationship, which led me to write this post for Hevria, hoping that as time marched on, I would find better coping mechanisms and the difficult would become less acute.

February

I began my BuJo Journey in 2018 and shared my cute little fledgling thoughts on what I learned after a month of trying this habit on for size.

March

In one of my favorite pieces (and titles) of all time, I confront the idea that unconditional giving to others is the desirable and more religious choice. Sometimes it really is! And sometimes it’s really, really, really not.

April

Missing the humble blogging origins of my writing, I finally wrote a post that was just for  this blog and not for any other site.

May

For Shavuos, I wrote this piece about my conversion story for Jew In The City, and that piece turned out to be very influential in my life, leading to writing for Aish.com, speaking at the Aish Partners Conference (so incredible and inspiring and I can’t believe I didn’t write about it, sorry) and, soon, a chizzuk trip to Israel, which maybe you want to go on so check it out!

June

It’s hard to believe that I wrote this piece about my miscarriage six months ago. I just realized as I’m typing this that I was writing about my experience with loss around the same time that we were blessed with another pregnancy (yes, I guess I’m announcing it here and now, I’m due April 2019, Thank G-d). I’m feeling fine and the pregnancy is fine but I’ve been much more quiet about it, especially online, and much more aware of the fragility of everything and how I was so so fortunate to get pregnant so quickly after a loss. I know that’s not everyone’s experience. Maybe I’ll write more about it later.

July

What is age anyways? I still feel young inside, but I have more experience and care less about what people think (though, annoyingly, sometimes I still care when I know I shouldn’t). This piece for Hevria explores the weirdness of aging and age and numbers and adulthood.

August

Over at Aish.com, I finally got to write about how I used to be obsessed with astrology and all the tests and quizzes and personality things that could help me figure out the mystery that was myself, and how all of that fell by the wayside when I discovered Judaism.

September

This is the only thing I wrote all month, mainly because I was completely and utterly wiped out from being in my first trimester and spent most of my time sleeping on the couch. But I couldn’t write that in the post, so I just wrote about how I wasn’t getting anything done. Ha.

October

In a rare moment of coherence in the aftermath of a tragedy, I wrote this piece for Aish.com. May we not have to respond to any more tragedies.

November

What started as a piece reminiscing about old dating experiences turned into a bit of a love note to my husband.

December

Finally, finally. Finishing off the year with this post over on Hevria, today, about living with private emotional pain. The thing about being a writer but going through painful private things is that not everything is suitable to write about, and so even though I know that people would relate to and benefit from me sharing certain painful experiences, they will forever remain locked up because they are not really mine to share. However, over the years I’ve found ways to share a taste of it, and this piece is perhaps the deepest I’ve gone yet.

It’s been an amazing year. Here’s to another amazing one coming up, full of growth and opportunity and all good things.

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