2017, the year of Family.
Rather than looking forward into the new year and deciding on a hopeful theme or word for the year, I am looking backwards through 2017 to analyse what word really stands out. For me, 2017 was a year of family. This isn’t all in a strictly positive sense, but nothing ever is, I suppose. Family started showing importance in December of 2016 when my spouses mother passed away, and long sought reconciliation and love was shared amongst that family. Long needed healing on all sides started. Family continued to be the relevant word of the year in February when my mother started dating for the first time after the death of my father. Family helped us to start a long awaited business venture, and allowed my spouse to become self-employed. Changes in family dynamics have created rifts between my mother, my brothers and myself. Family is protecting your aging loved ones against other members of your family, even when it creates or deepens the aforementioned rift. Standing against my
