As we count down to midnight with mixed feelings in what has been a tumultuous year, I am giving myself a pat on the back for successfully completing what started off as a whimsical spur-of-the-moment mission: to share 31 things I learned in the past 12 months, for each day of December.

On this last day, I can think of no better note to finish off, than to introduce a new word to your already extensive vocabulary:

Coddiwomple – “To travel purposefully toward an as-yet-unknown destination.”

This one appeals to those of us who aren’t 100% sure where we’re heading in life.

We have some idea, but circumstances have a way of slipping out of our grasp now and then, requiring us to pivot yet again, to reinvent ourselves, to start over.

It’s a breathtaking and bruising exercise in trust. Trust in ourselves, that we will somehow work this out, and become wiser and stronger. Trust in the process and the magic of life. Trust in a higher power, in divine appointments and serendipity, and in our Creator’s goodness and omnipotence.

May we coddiwomple together into 2024 with courage and faith.

See you there!