Word Of The Year. 1/51 #LifeThisWeek. 1/2021.
W E L C O M E E V E R Y O N E 2 0 2 1
Welcome to Life This Week in 2021. I am so glad you are joining us. Every Monday for 51 weeks this is the place to connect, to share, to add, to comment and to meet-up virtually with many! Love this community. Thank you for being one very important part. If you are new here, extra big welcome. The optional prompts for the weeks ahead are found on the home page. Denyse.
For the past three years I set a word of the year for me to live by. I admit I found this both a blessing and a curse. Ha! It was more the former than the latter. I did say to myself in November: ‘I think I will leave trying to live with a word of the year in 2021′
Then on 30th November for my 71st Birthday my dear husband wrote this to me on the card’s envelope:
There it was. A word to live with and by, and as many who read here know I do love having my smile. So now you know!
Why “SMILE”?
- A smile is a valuable form of communication and connection.
- I know for some people smiles can be hard to manage depending on the time and circumstances and not everyone is a ‘smiler’. That is what makes the world go round, we are all different.
- I too do not like being told “smile!!”. Umm. No, unless I have the emotions that warrant a smile, I may be able to slightly fake it but truly I prefer the genuine smile.
- I know there are many more muscles used in the face to frown and far fewer to smile and that can be a suggestion as a mood lifter.
- In fact, the old adage of ‘fake it till you make it’ can work as a psychological tool at times. Try it.
Some Thoughts on Smiling.
“A simple smile. That’s the start of opening your heart and being compassionate to others.”
– Dalai Lama
– Thich Nhat Hanh
“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”
“The greatest self is a peaceful smile, that always sees the world smiling back.” – Bryant H. McGill
“https://www.keepinspiring.me/quotes-about-smiling/ecause of your smile, you make life more beautiful.”
My Friends Shared Here About Smiles and Smiling After This Request From Me.
- Reading random acts of kindness
- My dog Lucky makes me smile all the time
- You make me smile. Especially now with your beautiful new smile x
- At this moment in time, seeing (and hearing) the delight as my 2 year old granddaughter experiences the beach. It starts as we prepare, then as she sees the water in the distance and then peaks as she plays in the water. Her pure happiness and joy at life in general makes me smile.
- My adult kids, watching them live their lives makes me smile x
- Snowflakes Music Ice cream Love Energy
- Babies laughing
- My garden
The Story of My Smile.
It’s said we often don’t know how much we appreciate something until it’s gone. I agree.
Regular readers here will know that I was diagnosed with a form of head and neck cancer in the top area of my mouth and this page tells the whole story.
The loss of what I counted on as something unique to me and special, oh so special, my smile was something that I came to terms with over time. I had to.
However, the length of time it took for me to get my smile back was fourteen long, arduous, surgery and treatment filled months.
The day I got to see what my new smile would look like nearly brought me to tears. It was like being reunited with an old but changed new friend.
Under each of the photos here I have added some commentary connecting the word S M I L E to:
- why I smile(d)
- the story behind the smile
- what can make me smile
- appreciation for my team who gave me back my smile
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- Little Girl Smiling For Parents!
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- Smiles as part of Family Photo Shoot in 1980s
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- Ah, school photos early 1990s…and perm!
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- Where I Got My Smile. Mum. Her last great photo Nov 2006.
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- This makes me (and many) smile. 2010 Two grandkids.
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- Same two grandkids SMILES of delight.
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- Selfies for the win 2012 with 2 grandsons.
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- Smiles all round. Me & Miss E 2015.
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- 2016 Christmas Visitors. I was SO happy to see them.
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- Weeks before I knew cancer was under the denture. Fake yet relieved smile after driving to Sydney first time in months.
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- Last SMILE (if you can call it that) for 14 months July 2017
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- Making a point?? No teef…smile 2017
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- Nov 2020 very genuine smile of love with 2 granddaughters 2020
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- Christmas Day 2020 Smiles. Gratitude for my professional #hnc team every day of my life.
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- Love these smiles which make me smile! Nov 2020
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- Boxing Day 2020 – a smile of gratitude
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- Mask Up: hides my smile but worth it. Dec. 2020
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- Compilation of a life of smiles.
That’s the story of my smile and why I chose the word for 2021. Actually I now think the word chose me. In a way, it was from my husband’s compliment and then this. I found a letter he never sent but he sure did proudly share with me and I have permission to share now here.
From B about my smile: written in 2018.
ABC Recording Studio, William St., SYDNEY.
I would dearly love to record a song for my wife of 48 years. I first encountered her at the Tamworth RSL Club where we were attending a Teacher’s Conference. Seated at the same table that evening, I was immediately struck by her smile. Since then, we have combined to produce two great children and eight adorable grandchildren.
Two years ago that smile was seriously threatened by a most unusually rare squamous cell cancer in her mouth. However, thanks to the brilliant intervention of an unusually rare surgeon at Chris O’Brien Lifehouse in Camperdown, Prof Jonathan Clark, she now has a new palate hewn from leg flesh and bone. Now that unusually rare smile has returned even more vibrant than before.
So, the song I would like, with your wonderful help, to dedicate to her is the Carpenters’ “Sweet Sweet Smile”!
Of course, smiling is contagious and I do this as much as I can when I am out and about to show my appreciation for others.
It is made harder by the addition of the mask thanks (no thanks) to COVID19 but I will still smile with my eyes and use words of appreciation where I can.
I hope your year has begun well.
Do you choose a word for the year?
I will review the word I had for 2020 in a future post.
Thanks for being here!
Denyse.
Link Up 221.
Life This Week. Link Up #221
You can link up something old or new, just come on in.
* Please add just ONE post each week! NOT a link-up series of posts, thank you.
* Feel free to go with the prompt for the week to add your ‘take’ on the prompt. Or not.
* Please do stay to comment on my post as I always reply and it’s a bloggy thing to do!
* Check out what others are up to: Leave a comment on a few posts, because we all love our comments, right!
* Add a link back to this blog in your post somewhere, or on your sidebar or let others know somewhere you are linking up to this blog’s Life This Week.
*Posts deemed by me, the owner of the blog & the link-up, to be unsuitable for my audience will be deleted without notice. These may include promotions, advertorials and any that are overly religious or political or in any way offensive in nature.
* THANK you for linking up today! Next Week’s Optional Prompt is Announcement. 11/1/2021
Grateful For This. 38/51. #LifeThisWeek is 4 years old! 76/2020.
Grateful For This. 38/51. #LifeThisWeek is 4 years old! 76/2020.
If I could reach out to you all, here’s what you might have to celebrate the blog’s 4 years of link ups on Mondays. Big on cake and biscuit cooking at my place.
Where did it all start?
Back in August-September 2016. Gosh, I hadn’t even known I had cancer back then. Lovely Kirsty from here, decided to close her Monday link up called “I Must Confess” and I approached with an idea for Mondays and she was delighted to support and promote….we ARE good mates!! Thanks Kirsty.
This post tells some of the story too.
Here is the first blog post about it. With the first set of optional prompts.
M E M O R Y L A N E : September each year.
2016: see above
2017:
2018:
2019:
About the Optional Prompts.
I admit they can be easy to decide and then, I can find some weeks harder than others. I do use a calendar for some, for example recent post on Sydney 2000 based on the Sydney Olympics Anniversary. Some are personal because I have some views I want to share but they can apply generally, for example “birth order”. Then in 2018 I made a plan to help sort out the year by adding:
Each 5th week: Share Your Snaps (photo-based post)
Each 7th week: Self-Care Stories
Each 9th week: Taking Stock
This meant for me I “only” needed to come up with prompts in between those intervals.
The reality of the blogging calendar is there are 51 weeks of prompts, and often the last one or two is free choice.
Why Optional Prompts?
Sometime we can sit at the computer and draw a blank but we still want to write! I know this helps me to have a prompt but to ensure no-one felt if they had not blogged based on the prompt they could not link up, I call them optional prompt.
2020.
What a year 2020 has been. Nothing like any of us expected when we made our first of the year posts and mine was this!
I admit when I set out to make a daily gratitude post on Instagram, I thought it would be easy. I knew I could find, feel and notice gratitude all around me. I was ready! Bring it on. Then…the year changed as we know, for all of us. My go-to daily activities were curtailed via the big C (not cancer, the other one) and I also had some surgical procedures. I really HAVE had to seach for gratitude far more deeply and note it even on the worst days for me. I continue to do the daily gratitude on Instagram (see the right hand side of the blog) until 31.12.2020.
2021.
I have no particular hopes nor dreams for 2021, given how 2020 has played out, but I do know one thing: Hamilton, the Musical, has been on repeat for me.
This sums it up…the title anyway, for 2021 and Life This Week!
Thank you for linking up today and commenting too. I will read your post later this week, as always!
Denyse.
Link Up 207
Life This Week. Link Up #207
You can link up something old or new, just come on in.
* Please add just ONE post each week! NOT a link-up series of posts, thank you.
* Feel free to go with the prompt for the week to add your ‘take’ on the prompt. Or not.
* Please do stay to comment on my post as I always reply and it’s a bloggy thing to do!
* Check out what others are up to: Leave a comment on a few posts, because we all love our comments, right!
* Add a link back to this blog in your post somewhere, or on your sidebar or let others know somewhere you are linking up to this blog’s Life This Week.
*Posts deemed by me, the owner of the blog & the link-up, to be unsuitable for my audience will be deleted without notice. These may include promotions, advertorials and any that are overly religious or political or in any way offensive in nature.
* THANK you for linking up today! Next week’s optional prompt: 39/51 Healthy. 28.9.2020
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