It’s Been Awhile…I’ve Missed You (and the Back Patio newsletter is making a comeback!)

So we are surviving in this new existence over here. My family is well. My parents are healthy. My niece had COVID, but thankfully, she was not very ill, and no one else in the family caught it, so that was nothing short of a miracle. I am grateful that this devastating illness hasn’t dramatically impacted my loved ones, but my heart breaks for the many, many thousands of families who haven’t been so lucky.

Our oldest, Noah, moved into the dorm last week at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and our younger son, Rowan, started his sophomore year of high school. So far both the University and Lincoln Public Schools plan to move forward with on-campus classes, but I suspect we will transition to all-remote learning sooner rather than later. I am ANXIOUS with a capital A, but am trying to take deep breaths, walk daily outdoors and stay off the Internet as much as possible in order to stay somewhat grounded and balanced.

Also, how did I not know that sending my first child off to college — even if he is only 10 minutes away — would be the hardest thing ever? More on that later, but man, it knocked the breath right out of me.

I’m still working at The Salvation Army. We worked from home for three months and then transitioned back to the office in early June, which was a little unnerving. But now we’ve all settled into the “new normal” routine of mask-wearing and social distancing, and honestly, most days, I am glad to have connection with real human beings (other than my dearly loved family, of course).

So I have lots more to say — of course I do, right?! — but the purpose of this post is to let you know that I am coming back to regular writing. Yay! I enjoyed my five-month hiatus, but I also discovered that I miss the regular discipline of writing, and most of all, I miss you!

That said, I am changing things up a bit. I’ve decided to shelve the blog and focus solely on producing my monthly newsletter, The Back Patio. If you aren’t familiar with The Back Patio, each monthly issue usually consists of a brief reflection, followed by book recommendations, podcast suggestions, a few photographs and other ephemera. The tone and style are typically a little lighter and less serious than the blog posts; it’s chatty, newsy and not too long — which is what a newsletter should be, right?

If you feel like The Back Patio might be your cup of tea and you don’t already subscribe, you can sign up here:

Till then, stay healthy, pet your dog (or cat), love on your favorite people and stay off the Internet!

Love,
Michelle

P.S. One more thing: I accidentally deleted my entire blog subscriber list (I know….you spend 10 years building an email list, and with a couple of ill-informed key strokes, you wipe the whole thing out! Egad!). I’m not sure why it feels important to tell you this, except to say if your mom or your sister or your great aunt Myrtle was a blog subscriber, please send them this way so they can sign up for The Back Patio if they want to. Thanks!