#reverb10: Assurance

Prompt: Everything's OK. What was the best moment that could serve as proof that everything is going to be alright? And how will you incorporate that discovery into the year ahead?


This is a hard one for me as I live in the tension between faith and uncertainty and anxiety and hope. We've had moments this fall where we experience a tentative calm, but not often.

#reverb10: New Name

Prompt: New name. Let's meet again, for the first time. If you could introduce yourself to strangers by another name for just one day, what would it be and why?


I've got nothing on this one. I really like my name...all of it.
My mom named me Jennifer because she liked the named and knew no one with it. These were in the days before "Love Story" made Jennifer a very popular name.

I was named Jennifer Louise, but I kept my surname after DH and I were married because it was my name and I had established myself professionally, and I like my name.

DH and I were married in the days when hyphens were a popular way to celebrate new relationships. I felt just fine about being a three named person.

So that's why it's just fine with me to say, "Hi. I'm Jennifer Burns Lewis."

#reverb10: travel

Prompt: Travel. How did you travel in 2010? How and/or where would you like to travel next year?

Last summer, we packed up a large SUV and our four plus FBC's significant other traveled to Colorado, where we picked up my dad and met 45 folks from the church I serve at a lovely retreat center in Colorado Springs. We drove across the flatness of the Midwest and thought Nebraska would never end. We encounter the biggest black flies everywhere in Nebraska. For fun, we traveled with my colleague and his family, carrying walkie talkies in the car so that the teenagers in my SUV could point out trains and buffalo and other interesting sights to the six and four year old boys in the other car. We traveled well together and the time at family camp itself was wonderful. We really loved whitewater rafting and hiking and looking out every morning on deer as we gazed out at Pike's Peak.

Next summer, I'd like to travel back to Door County, Wisconsin, home of peace and quiet, in my mind, and, if possible, I'd love to travel back to Cape Cod and Cape May, former homes and vacation spots with oodles of memories.

#reverb10: past and future self

Prompt: Future self. Imagine yourself five years from now. What advice would you give your current self for the year ahead? (Bonus: Write a note to yourself 10 years ago. What would you tell your younger self?)


We will be anticipating the year 2016. I hope I will be looking ahead with hope and calm, with grandchildren on the scene or on the horizon, with young adult children who are happy, healthy and whole and contributing to their communities in meaningful ways...and still making beautiful music. I hope DH and I are enjoying good health, work that brings fulfillment and that our lives contain laughter.

Ten years ago it was the end of the year 2000. We were living in a small town, and our children were very young. Life had a greater simplicity, although it was not without its scares and bumps. I think I would tell my younger self to embrace it all...that which was and that which is to come, because faith is real and hope is powerful and the love in my life is trustworthy.

#reverb10:Beyond Avoidance

December 20 – Beyond Avoidance What should you have done this year but didn’t because you were too scared, worried, unsure, busy or otherwise deterred from doing? (Bonus: Will you do it?) (Author: Jake Nickell)


I tend to address hard things, sooner or later, because addressing them is usually far less painful or onerous than fretting about them.

I was very anxious about pulling together my Lilly grant proposal, but working with a coach and tackling it piece by piece worked out well, despite the final answer from Lilly.

I have a quilt top that was a grand experiment that I really need to finish. I'm scared that it will look awful. Will I do it? Yes, most certainly, but not before Christmas....

#reverb10- Healing

Prompt: Healing. What healed you this year? Was it sudden, or a drip-by-drip evolution? How would you like to be healed in 2011?


Healing happens for me with words, without words, with time, with appropriately timed smiles.

The healing I've experienced this year has been gradual-- I love the drip-dry image-- and is fragile, but reassuring.

I'd be grateful for the same kind of healing in 2011...for me and for all I know who struggle.

#reverb10: Try

Prompt: Try. What do you want to try next year? Is there something you wanted to try in 2010? What happened when you did / didn't go for it?

I want to learn how to cross country ski. We have beautiful parks and forest preserves nearby and they're perfect cross country skiing places. I just need the gear...

I tried to be non-anxious in 2010. Epic fail.