2021 Blogging Year in Review

(A hat tip to Mali, whose post "2016: Looking back on the blog" has inspired me to do the same for the past several years. Also to Mel, whose Crème de la Crème lists from 2007 to 2012 prompted me & other bloggers to review our posts from the year past & pick out our favourites to share.  (There was a list in 2006 too, but that was before I started my blog.)  If the Crème de la Crème list still existed, one of these posts would probably be the one I would have submitted. :) ) 

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2021 has been my BEST blogging year ever -- in terms of quantity, if not quality (lol) -- I passed the 200 posts mark in mid-December (and, a few days later, 2,000 posts since I began blogging in October 2007!), and will wind up the year with 213 posts (including this one).  :) That's an average of almost 18 posts per month (!) -- or a post every 1-2 days.  My least-chatty month was June, when I posted 10 times;  my most verbose was May, with 24 posts. Not bad, after 14 years of blogging!  (By comparison, my next-most prolific blogging year was last year, with 197 posts, and then 13 years ago in 2008 -- my first full year of blogging -- when I logged 172 posts.) 

I don't check my blog stats very often, but I had a look at the ones for the past 12 months, and (as of Dec. 29th, anyway), I had 184,000+ views and 601 comments this year! The top-viewed posts of 2021  (that were written/posted IN 2021 -- most of them earlier in the year, which makes sense...) were (also as of Dec. 29th): 

• Of COVID & coffee (Jan. 31) -- 272 views, 4 comments 
• What's saving my life right now... (Feb. 5) -- 257 views, 5 comments 
• Pandemic anniversary and other odds & ends (July 6) -- 236 views, 5 comments 
• #MicroblogMondays: Childless Woodstock* :) (March 22) -- 221 views, 14 comments 
• Post-birthday odds & ends (Jan. 14) -- 216 views, 2 comments 
• Odds & ends (Jan. 21) -- 203 views, 5 comments 
• It never rains but... (Feb. 12) -- 197 views, 2 comments  
• Fireworks jerks? (July 5) -- 177 views, 6 comments 

In addition to posts about or related to childless/free issues or other adoption/loss/infertility issues, I tried to do a "Right now" or "The Current" post at the beginning of each month, and participated in 51 #MicroblogMondays (that's pretty much all of them this year, isn't it??).  I reviewed all 59 books that I read in 2021, and wrote about news items (usually ALI-related) that piqued my interest. I also wrote a lot about other things going on in my life, including aging, retirement, being an auntie & great-auntie, and condo living. There were lots of "odds & ends" posts, as well as lists of recent "small pleasures & annoying things."  And, needless to say, the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic (now in its second year) provided PLENTY of fodder for blogging!! 

Here are a few of my favourite/noteworthy posts from 2021, or ones that say "2021" to me -- in more or less chronological order (from oldest/earliest in 2021 to most recent): 

January: 

• 60 (!) -- Reflections on my (gulp!) 60th (!) birthday, and on milestone birthdays of my past. 
• #MicroblogMondays: "I have kids!!" -- A Capitol Police officer, being beaten by the insurrectionist mob on Jan. 6th, pleaded "I have kids!" -- and survived. Which made me wonder -- what would happen to childless me in a similar situation? 
• "If they die, it isn't as bad" -- "They" being health care workers without children --  according to the child of a COVID ward doctor in Britain. I wasn't sure which was worse, the child's comment, or the parent's response (or lack thereof...!). 
• Of COVID & coffee -- Reflections on different attitudes and ways of living through a pandemic. 

February: 

• #MicroblogMondays: It may be "allowed," but is it wise?? -- In a similar vein to the post above...! 

March: 

• Little did we know...! -- Looking back on how the pandemic crept into our consciousness, one year earlier. 
• #MicroblogMondays: Women & men and social media -- Observations on our different attitudes towards social media. 
• "The Last Normal Day," one year later -- (self-explanatory!) 
• #MicroblogMondays: Childless Woodstock* :) -- Attending the Childless Collective Summit online prompted some reflection on how far the childless community has come over the past 20 years (even if we still have a long way to go...!). 
• A favour -- We helped an old friend arrange a COVID vaccination appointment for her elderly aunt (and wondered who might do the same for us, a few years down the road?).

April: 

•  Does pregnancy loss/infertility belong on your resume? -- An interesting question posed in a Twitter post. 
• "Shang-a-lang" by Les McKeown (in memoriam) -- The sudden death of the Bay City Rollers' lead singer (the boy band of my youth) prompted me to read and review his memoir and do some reminiscing. 

May: 

• Crazy or grieving? (Mary Todd Lincoln was "one of us") -- A news story about a new museum exhibit on Mary Todd Lincoln and grief and how it was (and continues to be) misunderstood. 
• Childless mother -- In which I examine being in the weird position of having a foot in two camps: both childless woman and bereaved mother. 
• A few words of advice -- What "words of wisdom" (?!) I would offer anyone contemplating leaving infertility treatment for a permanently childless life.

June: 

• Diary of a desperate vaccine hunter -- Self-explanatory. ;) 
• #MicroblogMondays: Group hugs and Kleenex -- A scene from a TV show had me reaching for Kleenex and reflecting on what I've missed. 

July: 

• #MicroblogMondays: Tales from a trunk -- A lovely story about an antique wedding dress, with a childless angle. 
• 20 years of childless living -- Reflections on a milestone, and what I've learned. 
• #MicroblogMondays: Me time! -- I may be childless, but "me time" is still a bit of a rarity. 
• Oh sure, blame the childless... -- Another pronatalist politician using the childless as a scapegoat (and raising my blood pressure...!). :p  

August: 

• COVID is a sneaky SOB.... -- A too-close encounter with the virus.  :p  
• "Inconceivable," indeed...! -- Reflections on a past TV show, and depictions of infertility in popular culture. 
• #MicroblogMondays: Why my weekend sucked -- Gout (!), a huge thunderstorm and a power outage. 

September: 

• Hit me with your best shot -- Thinking about my vaccine history and vaccine hesitancy/resistance. 
• World Childless Week 2021 daily posts 
• #MicroblogMondays: Cottage weekend -- Including some infertility-related conversations. 

October: 

• Thankful -- A visit "home" with my family over the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday, after almost two years of pandemic. 
• #MicroblogMondays: 40 years!! -- A personal milestone. :) 
• Blogoversary #14 -- Another milestone of a different sort! 

November: 

• #MicroblogMondays: A happy Halloween -- Sharing in the fun of Little Great-Nephew's first Halloween trick-or-treating. :) 
• If you think you're "useless," then what am I?? -- Comments on a newspaper opinion piece lead to thoughts on ageism and pronatalism.
• I hate(d) November -- A difficult month for many reasons. 
• "Lori, what does it mean to be a “real mom” at work?" -- (!!!) An email from LinkedIn, and some childless/free reactions. 

December: 

• Hello dildocam, my old friend... -- A rather bizarre visit to an ultrasound clinic. 
• #MicroblogMondays: A pre-Christmas visit -- Visiting stepMIL brings back memories. 
• Alone -- Feeling vulnerable while dh is on jury duty. 
• Boosted :) -- Getting our covid booster shots. 
• #MicroblogMonday: Home for Christmas during COVID -- We made it!!