Hello friends, I’ve missed you. I hope you’ve missed me.

When life is chaotic, complicated, unsettled, up in the air, I retreat. I retreat to my shell, pull back, my instinct is to turn inward.

I don’t write.

Or rather, I write for myself, as a means of hashing out and sorting through and making sense.

But when the clouds clear and I’m on track again, I’m ready. Ready to resume, to reach out, to reconnect.

And so it is, after nearly a year in limbo, with lots of ups and downs, uncertainty, selling the house, looking for my bearings, and finding them again, I’m ready.

Over the past several months I’ve largely been quiet, and deliberately so. Since June of last year, I posted 55 times to my blog. Some months there was just one entry.

One of the consequences of this self-imposed absence is that I’ve stepped away from the habit of blogging. I’ve done that before during times of travel or some concentrated period of work, so I’ve re-launched myself before…never quite from this place, but I’ve done it.

While I’ve been on pause, I’ve learned so much. Some of it has been painful, but it’s been rich. I’ve done coaching, counseling, reading, introspection, lots of talking with family, a few friends, and with Rob.

Most of all, with Rob.

Thanks to the wisdom of many, and the grace between the two of us, we’ve weathered and survived. The issues, the questions…those are not important now. What is important is that we’ve chosen, once again.

The valley is not the place I want to live, but it is the place where growth happens.

For now, I’ve had enough growth for a while, thank you very much! I’d like a breather, and a time to live in the sunshine.

And I’d like time and focus to write. Here’s hoping.

I hope to have more than a post or two a month in the coming year.

I hope to move ahead with a custom site.

I hope to tap into some of the wisdom and experience I gained over the past year.

I hope to hear from my blogging friends, old and new, and to take my place in this online space again.

For now, I hope. I have hope. I am renewed.

~ Sheila