It has been a hard birth, but so excited to share!

Welcome friends to the newly minted blog. It has been a hard birth, and not quite over, you may come across some unfinished edges here and there. I am so eager to share the new design and focus with you, I hope you will excuse the growing edges.

I have deep affection for my old design, but as I finished the last post in April and read my own words, I was seized with such a restlessness, a call for a renewal that would not be denied. So I took the next sensible step, I found Doug and told him I had a vision. Picture the vision he was seeing, me in my ragged and oversized pink bathrobe with purple slippers, an enormous ginger cat on my shoulders, and a wildly sloshing cup of hot coffee in my hand. I wonder how he can take me seriously. I had a vision of a new blog design with color and movement, with pictures that could tell a story, and did he think he could make that magic happen?

I was unprepared for how intense the redesign would be, the moving from an idea in my head to a design. Doug searched for designs, I read and researched the wisdom of hundreds of generous bloggers who shared their knowledge. The collaborating of our results was not always pretty, or peace filled. At times it was filled with frustration and short tempers, impatience, and weariness. But that is the creative process, filled with doubt, sometimes failure, and then you see a little glimmer of what is taking shape, and eagerness replaces the weariness.

I have work left to do, as you can see the posts have feature photos and I have to select photos for two hundred posts. It can be slow at times, so many pictures of Justin, my eyes fill, the screen blurs, and it is time to take a break. When I first started to write, it was just about releasing what was inside, I gave no thought to categories or tags. I must confess that I didn’t even know what they were when I first started blogging. I had amassed over 29 categories and the process of funneling them down to less than a third of that number was daunting. Then it became very reflective and thought provoking, what emerged became my voice revealed.

I was sitting at my computer watching the screen as Doug flipped the content from the old design to the new, it happened right before my eyes. Adrenaline shot through my body, my heart flip flopped, I wish I had allowed myself to sit with that moment longer. But of course the next thought is, did it work? Did the content transfer? Overwhelming, exhilarating, and evidently insomnia triggering, I can’t sleep. I had not realized the relationship I have built with my blog, intensely personal, I have missed it, yet now she is all new to me. I need to get reacquainted and renew our bond.

Words are inadequate to express my gratitude and wonder for Doug’s genius, he provides that captivating canvas for me to write on and can see my soul through my pink bathrobe and constant feline companion. He looks beyond my membership in the “Whatabitch” tribe, and sees the pain that drives the need for the new canvas. He worked many nights  past midnight when he should have been asleep, hammering out the reluctant code and relentless in his pursuit of solutions.

And especially to you who are reading these words, thank you. Thank you for walking with me, with us, every note and comment has touched my heart and given me strength. No one wants to feel alone, grief by its very nature can be so isolating, thank you for keeping me company. I hope you will stay and share your thoughts on the new design, and share your stories with me as well.

Wishing you some peace filled moments,

Terri