Recently, my life broke, my health broke, my blog broke—everything up-in-smoke broke. And now I’m working to pull it all back together. So kindly bear with me as I return to the world of the living, writing, and well-being.

How did my life break? My husband and I bought a new house (extremely positive thing!), but my world since February has been filled with inspections, packing, moving, and unpacking. It’s a huge ordeal. One of the best kinds there is; I have never actually lived in a house, my parents rented all through my childhood, so owning a house is definitely my version of “making it” and moving forward in adult life. We’re settled in at least to a point of enjoying and living in our house (though the majority of our peripheral belongings are still in boxes in the garage—we have a garage! And a driveway!), but it’s beyond wonderful. More than I ever could have imagined, I feel home.

On the negative life front, my long-time writing coach and I split ways in April, and that was a huge blow to both my everyday life (having a supportive person to talk to) and writing life (have a mentor to guide me through my book). I’ve picked up the pieces and am a stronger person for the separation, but it took awhile to get here.

Health-wise, where to begin? I had unexpected abdominal surgery last November, I’ve been suffering from a concussion and its effects since last-last June (of 2017), and my doctor had been trying to find the right medications for my depression and insomnia, which has taken the better part of this year. Over the summer, I was full-on nocturnal. It’s rough not having the right meds, but it’s PAINFUL to be on the exact WRONG medication that amplifies the problem you’re trying to solve. Thankfully, I’m much better now! And we think we’ve finally figured out the right combination. Woot woot!

Now, to come to terms with what’s happened with my blog since I began it in July 2015. 15! That was three whole years ago. At a blog a week (which was my starting-out pace), I SHOULD have over 150 posts. Ha! I got through 18 weeks before I fell off that very-high horse, and I’ve been trying to catch up with myself ever since.

As I’m getting re-invigorated with life and writing, I also want to start blogging again, a sort of “take 2,” and really make it a consistent habit and job. So, I logged onto my site the other day, just to check the state of things, and…

DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNN

It. Wasn’t. There.

Gone.

No site, no blog, no ericadeel.com.

In my unhealthfulness at the beginning of this year, I apparently missed that my domain was expiring and my credit card was out of date. So, I lost it. Which I completely don’t understand, because the renewal for another domain on that account a few months later went through perfectly fine, and I don’t have any of the emails that they claim to have sent, but whatever…

…Except not whatever, because someone else snatched up MY domain in the meantime. MY name. Who else wants my name (from a Chinese reseller site) other than someone trying to sell expired domains back to people? That’s my guess, and it’s also my hope. So we’ll see how that goes.

In the meantime, I’m starting my “Take 2 Blog Tour” at the domain www.penningthewonderlife.com, as you see here. Small adjustments with lots of headaches. It’s okay. It will be fine.

Life has this funny way sometimes of challenging you on whether something really matters. I often find that when I decide on a course of direction (leaving my full-time job to write, returning to blogging, etc.), the universe throws either some temptation or some challenge my way to test me. If I persevere, then I’ve proven to myself—and the universe, who apparently needs to be told more than once—that, yes, I’m dedicated to this course of action, and there’s nothing you can do to keep me from it.

I feel like this is one of those situations. This challenge will not keep me down. The despair over losing my name, the irritation at myself for not being in a better space physically for this to not have happened in the first place, the hoops and support calls I have to make to get this all straightened out again, at least to the point of working—it’s a headache. It’s a handful.

But it won’t break me.