I’ve sat down to write this update post multiple times now. It’s been a while, and there is a lot to catch up on. Stuff with me, the business, the house, finding my feet after the year that was 2020 and everything in between. But then the sheer volume overwhelms me, and I delete the draft and run for the hills. But not today. No sir. Today, it’s happening even if I don’t cover everything (like, the house probably needs its own post. Actually, maybe so do the changes with my business).

It happened; if you’re reading this, I did it.

So, where to start? I’d say back at the beginning, but maybe 2020 is too far to go back. It feels like a lifetime ago now, but it’s funny how the pieces of the life I’d built are only now coming back together. I wonder if any of you felt like that too? After the 70% hit my business took, it was as if everything was pushed off its axis, and I was trying to make it through. One more day, that’s all I could manage.

Until that one more day got a little easier, and I got my feet back under me. Things started to come together; work started rolling in; I was happy again, not by some miracle or magical occurrence but through one choice at a time. I gave up drinking, sugar too (basically), and some life-sucking apps on my phone. I said yes to people who still wanted to talk to me, and I got out more. And at some stage, I started to garden and filled my side yard with plants, fruit trees and vegetables.

Maybe I had a late thirties, early on-set, mid-life crisis?

But whatever it was, things changed for me around the middle of last year. I got my life back. Then I started to write again. At first, I did it for myself, finding the words to describe how I feel about what I feel—blogging for myself while trying to decide if there is a place for a blogger from 2009 in an AI world. But I worked out it didn’t matter if no one ever read what I wrote; it was important to me.

So, I wrote in my newsletter (umm, sign up here if you don’t receive it already) and popped up on social media. Got in my photos and even booked some family photos for the whole crew. Along the way, I even wrote a few blog posts. This brings me here; maybe I’m not sharing anything new, but I wanted to provide an update anyway. This is a way to reclaim my space, share whatever I want to share, and show up; just as I am.

Melissa Walker Horn

Hi! I’m Melissa Walker Horn. Around here, they call me Suger. I’m the Chief Blogger and doer of all the things here at Suger Coat It. Blogging since 1901; I love a casual ootd, taking photos, and writing about things that irk or inspire me. I love wine and cheese, long days at the beach and spending time with my family. I make stuff for the internet over at Chalkboard Digital. You know, living the sweet life.