Best Bologna of 2012

Well, it's become an end of the year tradition now - third year in a row - ye olde Recap Post... wherein I reflect on the past year here at The Squashed Bologna and bring you my favorite posts from each month.

2012 has been a fairly intense, challenging year for me. My mother's fall in late May, and the radical change in her circumstances that rolled out from that being at the center of most of it.

It was hard to choose again this year...

The popular posts or the sleepers? The "big thoughts" or the quiet moments? Heavy posts about my mother or sweet ones about my kids? The challenges or the gifts of Jacob's autism? My best writing or the most interesting events?

Some months I couldn't pick just one, so there's a few doubles. And that's ok, because, well, my blog, my rules, right? Who says it HAS to be only one post per month? (Not me.)

So, without further ado...

Here are some of my favorite Squashed Mom posts from 2012:

January: Monday Listicles: 10 Things I Have Done to Make a Living {A funny annotated list of the many and sundry odd - and I jobs I have held in my long life}

February: A Full Moon for Susan {My goodbye to the wonderful Susan Niebur  - aka WhyMommy - who died of metastatic inflammatory breast cancer, celebrating her life and work} 

and 10 years ago today... {Looking back at my then pregnant self, realizing I had NO CLUE how much and in what ways my life was going to change}

March: Planets {Taking a walk with Ethan and reflecting on my children's distant, fratious relationship.}

April: Words {Reflecting on the power of words in our lives. Especially destructive ones - like "Retard"} 

May: The Dress {Cleaning out my closet, coming upon a dress I wore at a significant point in my life, and telling a tale from the beginning of my IVF pregnancy}

and Perspective {Sitting by my mother's side in the ICU puts everything else in my life into perspective.}

June: My Heart, Her Heart {Caring for my mother through her recovery, and adjusting - or not - to her new diminished circumstances}

July: The living and the dying {Reflections on my mother and my aunt: old women near the end of life.)

August: Full Circles {Dropping Jacob off for a week of SN Summer camp - at the same camp I attended as a 14 year old. Looking backwards and forwards in wonder.}

September: Picures and Stories {A smiling picture of Jake on a boat, and then the story of his horrific autistic meltdown five minutes later. The difference between pictures and stories.}

and Hunger {A funny memory of my last trip to LA while pregnant with the twins, when my access to food got compromised - my Yom Kippur post.}

October: Her way home {A poignant post about my fading mother and her struggles.}

November: Survivor Guilt {NYC got socked by a hurricane and my family suffered not one bit. And therefore I felt terrible.}

December: This is Jacob. This is autism. {My contribution to the wonderful "Autism Shines" campaign / Facebook page to counter the autism negativity fallout from Newtown.}

And that's the year that was!

Well... not entirely.  Looking over these posts, I realized there is much missing from this recap. Because I have chosen to go pretty much with the "best writing"  side of things, there are quite a few key events in my life not covered in here, as my posts regarding them were more reportage than literary, and thus didn't make it onto this list.

So I think I need yet another re-cap post about my LIFE in 2012 -- including things like my producing  the first annual New York City Listen to Your Mother Show, my reading as a Voice of the Year at BlogHer this past summer, the boys turning 10, etc., etc.

Tomorrow, peeps...

And until then?

Sending my wishes out to you all for the happiest of all possible New Years, and a 2013 that is wonderful and either wild or peaceful (depending on your preference), exceeding your wildest dreams.

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Photo credits: Spiral Galaxy by Calar Alto Observatory via NASA