Hello and welcome to 2022!!!

Every year, I create this page as a parent page for all the rest of my Ad Libs in the year to come. Here is to another year of quality writing tips! And, as always, prayers for consistency this year are appreciated. I hope you learn something as much as I hope to offer it. If you have any comments or questions about this year’s Ad Libs, don’t hesitate to leave a comment or email me at jessmax1hope@comcast.net.

A tradition of mine is to say where I was on New Year’s Eve. In 2021, on New Year’s Eve, I was actually driving downstate after work in Traverse City for my friend’s New Year’s Eve party. The party, which is usually hosted by my friend’s parents at their house, involves a night of games, snacks and chatting. At midnight, we quickly change the channel to watch the ball drop in Times’ Square, put on our party hats and count down the new year. Then, we go outside and light sparklers and set off poppers, take pictures and give hugs, before heading back inside to pray for the upcoming year. After that, we usually play games all night, seeing how long we can stay up. If we make it all night, we get breakfast in the morning. Then, we sleep until like 1 p.m. And, it’s great fun.

This year, having moved up to Traverse City to accept my first reporting job at the Traverse City Record-Eagle, I was not able to leave Traverse City until about 7:30 p.m. to drive back to the Detroit area for the party. It’s a three-and-a-half-hour drive from Traverse City to Oakland County, if you take the highways. So, I called my friend and said I would be a little late. It was 11:15 p.m. when she called me and said everyone had left early, that it was just her, her boyfriend and his sister and her family and did I still want to come? I was almost there at that point and I didn’t want to miss the party; so, of course I said yes, I still wanted to come. It was only a half hour to midnight when I got there, but we did all the usual midnight things. I talked about my new job and showed them the article I had written on the Cherry T Ball Drop, happening simultaneously in Traverse City. We all had to leave at 1 a.m., but I enjoyed praying with and talking with everyone. Short and sweet this year, indeed, but still a great way to welcome in 2022.

My word for this year is “grow” because I feel like I’m doing just that right now in Traverse City. Change and growth sometimes can be uncomfortable, but it’s not a bad thing. It’s actually a really good thing! It’s God molding you into the person you are supposed to be. And, like the sticker I got from Farm Club says, “Even in strange times, the plants still grow.”

Read my column on being new to Traverse City and article on the Cherry T Ball Drop here, and…

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Happy 2022!!!

• Cherry T Ball Drop article
• New Year’s police article
• Introducing myself column, written NYE, published mid-January