Week Fifty: Kathy Benson

What are Your Top Five Favorite Today Voice Prompts/Posts from the past year?

This was supposed to be a Top Five list of my favorite Today Voice Prompts/Thursday’s Voice Posts over the past year. However, I had trouble narrowing the list down. So it is a Top Twelve List!

MY TOP TWELVE FAVORITE TODAY VOICE PROMPTS/THURSDAY’S VOICE POSTS:

12. Week Sixteen ~ Write about your favorite childhood memory.

I like that this post was more light-hearted than many of the ones focusing on deeper/more serious topics. I feel happy and nostalgic when I read it, along with seeing the picture I included, which always makes me smile!

11. Week Seventeen ~ Write about your least favorite childhood memory.

This post was somewhat difficult for me to write, but I wanted to be honest and share my experience. I found the comments on this one to be very validating, both here at The Today Voice and on the link to it I shared on Facebook. One of the Facebook comments in particular meant a lot to me, as an old friend who knew me back then said that she remembered me being happier and more well adjusted than I portray myself in my post. I found that so kind of her to say and also interesting to wonder about my own selective memory and why sometimes I tend to focus on or remember certain experiences (including negative ones) and not others.

10. Week Two ~ Describe a typical day in your life. What do you dread the most? What do you look forward to?

I wrote my first draft of this post fairly quickly, but then struggled to get try to make it more concise. In the end I gave up and decided that it was okay for it to be on the long-winded end of the spectrum, as I truly want to give readers a sense of a typical day in my life. I also found the comments fun, interesting and validating on this one, especially those I received from fellow Stay at Home Moms.

9. Week Three ~ Describe your best friend. How would your best friend describe you?

I feel blessed and lucky to have had many dear, genuine and close friends throughout my life. I chose to write about my husband Bob this week, since he has been my best friend since not long after I met him almost 16 years ago. Describing Bob in the first part of my post came relatively easy to me. However writing how I thought he would describe me I found to be a lot more difficult.

8. Week One ~ If your life were a television show what kind of show would it be? Who are the characters?

I thought this was such an interesting question. Initially it wasn’t easy for me to imagine a TV show about my life, but once I got going it was a fun, and even therapeutic, prompt for me to write about. It was also a great way to kick-off The Today Voice and begin to get to know my fellow writers.

7. Week Twenty-two ~ Why do you write?

I love this prompt suggested by fellow Today Voice Writer/Friday’s Voice Amanda Kasper. I enjoyed the opportunity to muse about why I write. I really like the way my post turned out and especially appreciated some of the comments I received from friend/other writers/bloggers who I respect and admire.

6. Week Thirty-five ~ Who was the first person who died in your life and how did you feel?

This was another prompt that I knew immediately who/what I would write about. I have often thought about this person throughout my life and how I felt when and since she died, but I believe this is the first time I have ever written about her/my experience related to her death. As I shared in my post, forming a bond with my childhood friend’s mother after her daughter passed away definitely helped prepare me to be a bereaved mother later on in my life.

5. Week Forty ~ At your deepest level, what do you most want to know in your lifetime?

This was an interesting and cathartic post to write. I would love to find out the answers to any and all of these questions someday whether in this lifetime or the afterlife.

4. Week Twenty-four ~ If you could witness any event, past, present or future, what would it be?

This is such an awesome and overwhelming question. I could easily come up with a different answer each week and explore that every Thursday for a year or more. I considered so many possibilities and in the end came up with two events, one past and one future that I would most like to witness, though it was so hard to narrow it down.

3. Week Twenty ~ If you were going to write a book, what would it be about?

I toyed with being more general about my aspirations to finishing writing my memoir about our journey through secondary infertility and loss and then try to get it published “the old fashioned way” and/or self-publish. However, in the end I chose to be honest and direct about the fact that “I am writing a book” and loved the positive feedback I received in the comment section, including some of my blogging friends/mentors, who are published authors.

2. Week Nineteen ~ Write about one thing you’d like to do before you die.

Ever since I first read through the weekly writing prompts for The Today Voice in July 2012 I had been waiting for Week Eighteen — it was my favorite at first glance. Well, our editor, Peter Combs, must have been on a role when he was coming up with the prompts, as this week’s topic was a close second. I knew right away what I wanted to write about when I read it and looked forward to getting the chance to share about one of the experiences at the top of my bucket list, which I hope to have someday.

1. Week Eighteen ~ If your life had a soundtrack what five songs would be on it and why?

As I shared in my response to this prompt, ever since I first read through the weekly writing prompts for The Today Voice in July I had been waiting for this one. It was my favorite at first glance, as I love music, as well as Top Five and Ten Lists. Back then I thought about my answer and jotted down which songs would be on my soundtrack. I have written many posts over the years on my blog that include some of my favorites songs/song lyrics. Recently I listed them on this page alphabetically with hyperlinks. Interestingly, I have written individual blog entries highlighting all of the five songs I chose for my “life soundtrack” except for one.

If you have been reading my Today Voice posts, I would love to know what one or more of your favorites are. Thank you!

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Kathy Benson is a bereaved and blessed mom, writer and group fitness instructor trying to live mindfully and find joy in the journey after dealing with secondary infertility and loss for five years. She lives in Chicago, Illinois with her husband and two living children.

Kathy blogs at Bereaved and Blessed. You can also follow Kathy on Twitter @BereavedBlessed and her Facebook page.