The Missing Creme
Last year was the last year of the Creme de la Creme. I can’t say that it will never run again because who knows how we will all feel in another year or two or twenty?
But participation had dwindled over the years, so I declared last year’s Creme — the 9th one — to be the final one for the time being. Part of me considered extending one more year just to have it end on a nice, even 10. But that’s not life. Life isn’t neat and symmetrical and orderly. Things sometimes end on a 9th year instead of a 10th.
I felt an odd twinge in the fall when I didn’t put up the call for submissions, but I didn’t really think about the project again until this week. In years past, this week has always had a panicky vibe as I move through the entries, reading and thinking and sometimes reading again and thinking again and then writing. This year, there was no panicky vibe. There were no entries to read or blurbs to write.
It’s an odd feeling to stop celebrating something, sort of like declaring yourself done with a holiday. It still rolls around on the calendar, but all the rituals you once did to mark the occasion aren’t performed.
There is no point to this post except that I wanted to mark the moment. Because I was thinking about it. While I know the posts I liked and mark them in the Roundup, it’s different to hear the post each writer was proud of from their yearly collection of posts.
If I had to pick one from my blog, it’s probably “Lasts” because it’s summing up the year for me. What is yours?
16 comments
I’ll have to give this some thought and come back. Although, I’m not a favorites kind of girl. 😉
I was thinking about the Creme de la Creme list. ThoughI miss it, I also remember thinking every year that this must be an insane amount of work. And when participation drops, it can make all that work seem not worthwhile. I hope one day it returns, but also know that sometimes things need to end so other projects can be born.
My pick for this year is “Kintsugi” (http://searchingforoursilverlining.blogspot.com/2015/07/kintsugi.html?m=1), a post about finding the beauty in the healing process and the scars following infertility. Whenever I hear “Ghosts of Beverly Drive,” I’m reminded of all that has happened and how we’ve been forever changed, with a lot of it being good.
I was just thinking about the Creme de la Creme list, and while I’m sad it’s gone (and I love what you said about sometimes things ending at 9 rather than 10, not so neat and tidy), I agree with Cristy — that must have been an INSANE amount of work at the end of the year when everything is kind of an insane time of year anyway.
I love your “Lasts” posts. It was so poignant.
I struggled mightily with picking a “favorite” or “best” post each year I participated, because they’re all my babies and I have different favorites for very different reasons. I think the one I’m going to go with here is “In the Time of the Butterflies” http://mypathtomommyhood.blogspot.com/2015/02/in-time-of-butterflies.html, because it’s about our decision to start the adoption process and the joy that we felt, comprable to the joy we felt the one time we were pregnant in my uterus. I still feel this way, filled with joy and anticipation and peace and relief to be done with a process that was not kind to me.
It’s hard to choose one, since this was such a huge year. But this one reflects what’s been on my mind the most lately.
Your “Lasts” sounds like something I could have written. I often have a moment of introspection for an event I know is the last, and when I don’t know and it goes by, I feel a little bitter that I couldn’t have marked it a little better.
I loved ‘Lasts.’ Excellent choice.
I didn’t post a lot this year, but if I had to pick one, it would likely be this-
http://twoadultsonechild.com/a-day-in-the-life/
I love it because I think it really captures the essence of how it feels to do my job.
I guess for me it’s this one: http://lifeaftert18.blogspot.com/2015/12/just-thoughts-while-on-baby-watch.html
Going back over the blog from this year was hard. Hoping for a better 2016.
I plan to peruse past years’ Cremes again. So much good stuff over the years (9!!)
I’d say this one, about my son’s freak accident. http://lavenderluz.com/2015/09/freak-accident.html
Thank you for posing this question! Now, even without the Creme de la Creme, I can read a few favorite posts from bloggers I may or may not know of. And I, too, loved “Lasts.” So poignant. So honest and very true.
For me, my favorite post that I wrote was, “To the One Who Isn’t Here.” https://waitingtoexpand.wordpress.com/2015/07/23/to-the-one-who-isnt-here/ It’s a letter written to a baby I miscarried several years ago. I was needing to articulate the confusing, ambivalent feelings I have about this baby all these years later, especially as we were preparing to welcome the newest member of our family. It felt so good and right to finally put it into words.
Your “Lasts” speaks to me every time I see it. Those little moments that you never realize are the last time until later… ouch.
I only published two posts this year and they were both about the lasts. I still have trouble believing the struggle is really, truly, irrevocably over. But I’ll never see another BFN, so I’ve got that going for me, which is nice. 🙂
I was just thinking about Creme de la Creme, knowing that we probably wouldn’t have one this year. I am glad you are asking us to tell which post we like the most. I just looked through all 110 posts I wrote this year. I really like this one about me and my dad: https://binkymoongee.wordpress.com/2015/06/29/microblogmondays-precious-time-with-my-aging-father/
I think I would choose this one, reflections on if Firefly didn’t die.
http://whereivebeenandwhereimgoing.blogspot.com/2015/06/if-firefly-had-lived.html
I’ll miss the Creme this year, and have been amazed and grateful for all the work you put in to give this community a voice and a place to share. Thank you!
I would choose this post about letting children be our guides, the (often unexpected) wonders and delights of raising my daughter with Down syndrome, and the gift of remembering how being different can be awesome.
http://my-invincible-spring.blogspot.co.at/2015/03/the-lessons-she-teaches-on-time.html
I’m so glad that you’ve invited us still to submit our favourite posts. A much easier way to do the Creme, and still the chance for me to go back and read everyone’s favourite posts.
I had a number of favourites, but this one had the biggest impact. And ultimately, it is the lesson I want everyone to learn from my blog. That even when we can’t imagine things getting better, they do. Maybe even despite ourselves.
http://nokiddinginnz.blogspot.co.nz/2015/01/pain-and-healing-early-days.html
I am going to miss CDLC.
Lasts is so poignant.
http://saintaltrove.blogspot.com/2015/06/my-first-tear-you-always-are.html
The relaunch is too new for me to have a favourite post. Next year. 🙂
In the meantime, I’m enjoying everyone else’s
It hit me, mid-December, that you hadn’t put the call out for the Crème. While I miss it, I understand why you felt it was time to pull the plug — that was a huge amount of work! Thank you (again) for all those great years of reading!
I finally had some time to go through my 2015 posts. Always hard to pick a favourite, but I like this one, reflecting the passage of time:
http://theroadlesstravelledlb.blogspot.ca/2015/04/filling-in-blanks.html
I also have a fondness for this post, which is not ALI-related, but close to my heart nevertheless: 😉
http://theroadlesstravelledlb.blogspot.ca/2015/05/letting-go.html