December is when “Best of” and “Top Ten” lists spring up in all sorts of places, including More to Come.
This list is your selection of the top posts for the year. Because MTC is not your typical single-focus newsletter, I want to thank you once again for reading this eclectic mix of observations, recollections, and occasional bursts of radical common sense about places that matter, books worth reading, roots music to nourish the soul, the times we live in, and whatever else tickles my fancy. I am so grateful that readers keep checking in, providing feedback through their choices of what’s of interest.
Here’s a baker’s dozen of the top stories from the past year, as selected by the readers of More to Come. And yes you have to go all the way to the end to see what’s #1.
LIMINAL PASSAGES
Three top posts from this year explored passages in life, from birthdays, to retirement, to death.
- From certainty to mystery is a perfect description for my life’s history. It is surprising just how much I’ve forgotten since I was sixteen and knew everything. On my sixty-eighth birthday I reflect on a few things I want to accomplish in whatever time is left — most especially to be gratefully aware, not just every day but every hour in a way that leads to true thankfulness.
- No longer semi-retired, I have a new life description: Bashing into joy. I’m discovering new worlds while diving deeper into things I love. There is joy in sharing these personal and collective explorations through essays and lectures. Letting go in retirement, relationships, and with long-held expectations can involve disappearance along with a sense of transience and fragility. Disappearance, Kathryn Schulz writes, reminds us to notice, transience to cherish, fragility to defend. “We are here to keep watch, not to keep.”
- Letting go of control is hard. Really hard. With all the anxiety and pressure in today’s world, the tendency is to gather all we think we must do and hold on tight. But the fact is that we don’t have that much control, as I learned once again at the funeral of a dear friend. When we open our eyes to how life really works — when we pay attention, in other words — we come to at least see, if not fully accept, the paradox of limitations.
AUTHORS TELL THEIR STORIES
In a series of questions & answers, seven authors graced More to Come this year with their presence. Four of those conversations were among this list of top reader views.
- Janet Hulstrand has written a delightful memoir that takes us from her grandmother’s hometown in Iowa to her current home in the French countryside. Along the way we hear much about Janet’s journey. The best journeys are the long ones is the place where Janet and I discuss this testament to family and the writing life.
- A 1942 editorial in the Rutherford Courier encouraged the citizens of my hometown to create a public library. Henry T. Linebaugh answered the call. For its 75th anniversary, Lisa Ramsay gathered a rich array of stories that tell how Murfreesboro’s library became an essential part of the community. Lisa and I discuss her work in the post Books for the people.
- Sleeping With the Ancestors by Joseph McGill, Jr. and Herb Frazier is a compelling work about a crusading effort to draw attention to the preservation of dwellings where enslaved people lived, worked, and raised their families. A former National Trust colleague, Joe is Changing the narrative one slave dwelling at a time. Joe and I talked about his book and the work to broaden what began as a modest regional effort into a national force.
- Julia Rocchi’s is a questioning faith, and in her new book she invites the reader to join in her journey. Essays, quotations, poems, and prayers probe the mysteries that make up life. I was delighted when Julia, a long-time friend, allowed me to ask questions that we explored in A questioning faith.
LIVING A WONDER-SMITTEN LIFE
Throughout the year, I wrote about living with a sense of wonder. Two of those posts rose to this list.
- In a remarkable 43-year project, Carol Highsmith has visited all 50 states and photographed the people and places of this incredible country. Hundreds of thousands of these images will eventually be donated copyright free to the American people via the Library of Congress, a project I celebrated in A gift to America.
- The New Year is a time when many begin thinking of resolutions. Ten years ago, I established several rules of how I want to live day-to-day. In We live remarkable lives, I review those rules through a summary of eight different posts from the previous year.
FAMILY
I’ve always included family stories as part of this newsletter. Three of those posts from 2023 made this list.
- Journeys are often about finding either something we’ve lost or discovery of something we’ve never seen before. And when we’re lucky, a journey with a lifetime partner is one of extraordinary discovery. I’ve been very lucky, as I write on this post for our 41st anniversary.
- Andrew was a finalist in the 10th annual Handel Aria Competition in Madison, Wisconsin. I posted videos and photos in A memorable evening of Handel.
- Our year in photos — 2023 is the latest in an annual collection of family photographs that began in 2008.
AND THE WINNER IS . . .
Everyone has someplace they call home. Which may be the reason that my thoughts on what home means to me — as found in the essay Home is . . . — resonated with so many of you.
Thanks as always for reading.
More to come . . .
DJB
Last year’s listing of the top posts on More to Come as selected by reader views can be seen by clicking on the link. You can also check here to find similar lists from:
Photo credits: Changed priorities sign (DJB); Door photo by Jan Tinneberg on Unsplash; Janet Hustrand from the author; Image of Mono Lake from the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division; Family photo collage by DJB and other family members and friends; Image of cups by Jill Wellington from Pixabay.
MORE TO COME... 
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