I just reread my last blog about our budget bubble burst. Whew, what a difference a year makes (that’s how that song goes, right?). I know the following to be true, but apparently I cannot be reminded of it enough: there is power in reflecting on past situations and considering:

1) What we learned, and

2) How we have (hopefully) grown.

So of course at this point I know you have all gone back and reread my last blog and are dying to hear what I have learned and how I have grown. Okay, okay, I won’t keep you in suspense any longer.

1) I have learned that in life we will find ourselves in difficult situations—whether self-inflicted or out of our control—and sometimes you just have to put your head down and get to work. (If anyone has ever had the privilege of being coached or taught by my dad, you may have heard his voice just now.)

2) My bathroom cleaning skills have really gotten impressive, (that’s kind of a joke, but not untrue), and I have also been reminded that when push comes to shove, I am—we are—capable of adapting and finding new ways to make things work.

Have you ever listened to a speaker, perhaps a sermon, perhaps a speech from a sports coach, and you feel like the speech is all wrapped up, but then they go on talking? That is likely how you might feel now, because I am about to shift the focus from myself to . . . myself. (You’ve been warned, so it is on you if you continue reading.)

Today is my “pub date"! (That is what we in the book-writing world refer to as the official date one’s book is published, but you inferred that, didn’t you?) I have had high hopes of returning to this blog-writing practice, and I kept telling myself I would do it on or around when my second memoir came out. So here I am, returning to this blog landing and sharing some fun news: my second memoir has come out.

Hopefully I will write more about the new memoir soon, but for now—you guessed it—I have to go clean a bathroom.