My Word for 2026 is “Trust”

Posted December 30, 2025 by Prairie Wife - 4 comments

After weeks of deliberation, considering words and phrases, perusing quotes and Bible verses, I finally decided that my word for 2026 will be TRUST.

Now, get ready, because what is about to come at you isn’t a warm, gushy, positive post…I’m about to vent in a way I haven’t for a very long time, and I’m going to be brutally and uncomfortably honest.

Over the last two years, and more significantly in 2025, my trust in both people and the systems around us has been utterly shattered.

As I sat and had yet another tearful conversation with The Cowboy a few months ago, I said, “I am tired of being sad and angry all the time.” He looked at me with pain and compassion in his eyes and pulled me in for a hug as he whispered into the top of my head, “I know, babe, it really doesn’t suit you.”

While there have been glimmers of joy and hope, 2025 has been brutal for me.

My daughter’s stalking began in 2023, but it wasn’t until the fall of 2024 that we learned who was behind it: Marcie Smith, a 41-year-old woman who lived in our community. And yet, even with answers, the weight of it all didn’t fully settle in. It wasn’t until March of this year, when we were finally able to speak publicly about our case, that we began to understand the true impact of what had been done to our family.

Even in the Fall of 2024, when whisperings began about the protection order we had filed, we had to stay silent while our character continued to be slandered by Marcie and her supporters.

Over and over, I watched as people I would have once called friends walked past me without saying hello. I heard all the lies and rumours being spread, and my heart broke as people I had trusted and cared for believed them and left my family and me out of multiple events and occasions.

In 2024, I stopped regularly posting on my personal page because I had no idea who the “anonymous texter” was, and I didn’t want to give them any more information to use against us than they already had. I didn’t trust people to keep private the things that I told them, and I feared they may unknowingly give information to the stalker, who would then use it against us.

So, I stopped sharing important details about my life with many of my friends.

My entire brand and blog are built on sharing the ups and downs of my life, and I could no longer do so safely.

I stopped frequently writing about my personal life on the blog and limited my social media posts. I stopped publicly posting pictures of my friends and me when we spent time together because I feared they would become targets too. I had to hire a social media manager to manage my blog after surgery and while I was on vacation, because I had no idea what someone might post in the comments or use against our family while I was unable to monitor my accounts.

But silly me. I thought that when we could finally talk, when the evidence was released, when we could be 100% open and honest about what had been done to our family, when everyone knew what we had been battling and fighting for over a year…that we would recive an outpouring of support.

And to a certain extent, we did.

When we went to court to face our stalker, the courtroom was packed with friends and loved ones, unafraid to show their support publicly. When I turned around and saw them, I began to cry because, for the first time in over a year, I felt like we were no longer battling this alone.

When we went public with our story, family members, friends, strangers across Wyoming, and even around the world rallied around us, showing their support for our family and the laws we were working to change. They were just as appalled as we were that an adult stalking a minor in Wyoming is a misdemeanor and results in the same punishment as littering.

Going through the court system as a victim and seeing the lack of protection and dignity for our children and us shattered my trust in the system. 

People who had been friends for years, whom I had watched believe the lies being told, and who had slowly and quietly slipped out of our lives, reached out to apologize. These people have my utmost respect, because I know how hard it was for them. And truly, I don’t blame them a bit for believing someone they had known their whole life over me.

With each text, message, and positive comment, I felt a flicker of trust begin to grow again.

But then…our stalker’s supporters didn’t stop.

They filled the comments on my social media posts with claims that I was a liar, that my daughter was a bully, that I was doing this for attention, and “it’s not a big deal, it’s just a misdemeanor, it’s not like she killed anyone.”

A community member saved Marcie a seat in the front row of the prom, so she was the first one my daughter and her date saw when they walked onto the stage.

We were told to be quiet and to stop talking about what had been done to us. “When does the person who won’t stop posting become the real bully?”

We were victim shamed and victim-blamed, and I felt hope begin to fade away, and with it, I began to question if what had been done was really that bad. Maybe I WAS overreacting?

My trust in my own instincts and understanding of what was true and right began to feel shaky.

I was told that what I was doing wasn’t fair to Marcie’s family. That I was only thinking of my children and not hers.

And I wanted to scream!

I wanted to ask them if this had been done to their child, if someone had spent a year intentionally harming their baby and their family, if someone had spent hundreds of dollars and hours with the simple goal to cause pain and suffering for their daughter, if they would sit and be quiet so “the town could heal.”

Do they think our stalker thought for one second about anything other than herself?

She stopped because she got caught. What was her endgame, I wonder?

Us moving…my child dead?

A staff member at the school, as well as a close family friend of our stalker, testified on her behalf at our July protection order hearing. A hearing we had to have, even after the publicity and the original protection order, because Marcie still wouldn’t stay away from our children and our families.

And after that, I was supposed to send my children back to school and trust they would be cared for and protected?

As we sat in court, waiting for the verdict in the protection order hearing, my Apple Watch buzzed. No phones are allowed in court, and I glanced down to see multiple missed calls and texts from my dad and my sister.

We went out to the car and called them, and I heard the news that they were no longer going to do Chemo for my mother; she had lost her battle with ovarian cancer.

I flew home the next day to spend five precious days with my mother.

While I know science and medicine are no match for God’s plan, my trust in doctors wilted.

And as the year has gone on, more and more people have shown their true character.

So many people have gone to battle for us.

Legislators and community members who are fighting alongside us.

Friends who loudly and proudly show their love for us and or family.

But some people have shown they only supported us so they’d be the first to know the gossip.

Some people choose to remain “neutral” and support both families.

And maybe I’m an asshole, but that doesn’t work for me.

If you actively interact with, protect, and support the woman who sought to harm my child, you are not welcome near me.

You are not someone I trust, and you will not be welcome in any space of mine in the real world or virtually.

I’m done feeling like I have to watch my back and be constantly vigilant, and one way to find my peace again is to let no one into my life I’m unsure about.

Being a victim of stalking changes so much of how you behave, how you see the world, and your relationships…the damage done is impossible to measure accurately…

So after all that ranting and anger and sadness, why did I pick “trust” for my 2026 word?

After all, I think we can all agree I have plenty of valid reasons for being protective of my space.

It’s because, when all this started, I decided I wouldn’t let this change who I am at my core.

I still 100% trust that there is more good in the world than evil.

I have faith, hope, and trust in our legislative process, and I am focusing on how we can work together to ensure our stalking bill gets enough votes to pass in the 2026 legislative session.

I trust in the mission of this space, and the reason I created the Prairie Wife brand. I will not stop doing this. I will no longer be afraid to share openly and honestly about my life.

I trust my message will get to the right people who need it, and that the wrong people will scroll on by.

I trust in my friends and loved ones who have shown up for me over and over this last year.

I trust that the people I’ve chosen to walk away from no longer belong near my family or me.

I am going back to trusting my instinct. That old gal has never steered me wrong, yet for some reason in the last few months, I started to doubt her.

I trust I am strong enough to keep pushing forward and create a life I love.

I know that I am going to make mistakes, but I trust myself to know when to stop, and when to apologize, and when to pivot and change.

And most importantly, I trust that God will get me exactly where He wants me to be.

2025 has broken me in so many ways, and it’s tough for me to admit that out loud.

But I have refused to stay down, and I have rebuilt myself piece by piece.

I am not the same woman, wife, and mother I was.

But as my mother always said about me, I will still forever be the eternal optimist.

I trust that love is never wasted, and that I have enough grit and grace to keep moving forward.

XOXOXO

Prairie Wife

Photo Credit: Willie Petersen

Categories: Life As It Happens, Prairie Life

Tags: , 2026 intentions, advocacy, digital safety, faith and perseverance, family resilience, finding your voice, grit and grace, hard seasons, healing journey, motherhood, moving forward, parenting, personal growth, protecting children, reclaiming peace, small town life, speaking out, stalking awareness, trauma recovery, truth telling, word of the year, wyoming life