After months of writing and posting crappy first drafts, I quit writing. There was no defining event that caused me to stop. I think it was a result of too many stressful situations in too many places. I was still recovering from my daughter’s suicide attempt and all the legalities in dealing with her perpetrator. I was stuck in a crappy job, working for an administration that enabled the same perpetrator. Whether I was at home or at work, I was surrounded by stress. And while I’ve used writing to sort through my thoughts and feelings, I just could no longer stand seeing those thoughts and feelings written.

However, things are better now. Almost normal—whatever that is. My daughter is doing very well. We homeschooled her last two semesters of school (something I never thought I’d do), and she’s preparing to attend college. My work situation has improved tremendously, and I’m having the best school year I’ve had in at least three or four years.

I’ve continued baking and decorating cakes. I’ve discovered that I’m really quite good at it. I’ve done a wedding cake and several birthday cakes for friends and family.

I’m still working out to deal with daily stress, and I rarely even consider Xanax as an option.

More importantly, I can laugh again. And lastly, I can think of reasons to write again. Like the day at school when I was breaking up a fight, I took a punch, and the first thing I did was grab for my pearls. (Then, I put the kid up against a wall—in my heels, no less.) Or the fact that three houses in my middle class neighborhood have gone into foreclosure. This afternoon, I thought about writing about why I hate the freaking u-scans at Kroger, Wal-Mart, and Meijer. Really—if I wanted to scan and bag groceries, wouldn’t have I secured a job doing just that? And most mind-numbing of all to me, is how students and staff are celebrating the birth of a child to a 16 year-old mother.

Anyway, I’m writing again. I hope to catch up on all my mybloggers friends and their happenings and news very soon. Big hugs to everyone!