I’ve been kicking around changing my blog name for quite some time. It all started this summer when I was feeling emotionally drained. This is a frequent problem for me during the summer. I used to really look forward to summer. In Iowa, the arrival of summer is especially welcome after a long, cold and sometimes snowy winter. My birthday is in the summer. My daughter plays softball in the summer and I really enjoy going to those games. With school out of session, my work schedule is much more flexible. Life is just easier in the good ol’ summertime…except when it isn’t.
My husband was diagnosed with lymphoma just as summer had arrived back in 2014. He died just as we were getting ready to return to school for the fall. Our entire summer was spent in the hospital. In a way, I was thankful he was diagnosed in the summer. I could be off from school. The kids could come to the hospital just about any time they wanted to. The hospital had a beautiful rooftop garden where we could sit and enjoy the beautiful weather. Winter would have made an already depressing situation just a little bleaker.
I relive his battle and subsequent death just about every day of my life. But summer brings on a more detailed recollection of the time and events. Reminders of my husband are everywhere, but summer brings even greater reminders. No matter how hard I try not to, I fall into a funk every summer. Summer takes a lot out of me.
This past summer I hit the blog harder. I documented everything about our home renovation. This home is the home we bought during our second year of marriage and we have lived here ever since. You can imagine the memories attached this place. Everything I documented about the house would make me think about the work we had done on it together and the memories we made here. I would sit and wonder if he would be proud of me for what I’m doing or think I’m completely crazy. Bring on the funk.
I had always intended to blog about crafting – especially about the projects I do with my Silhouette Cameo and the cutting files I create. I’m a big fan of junking and repurposing, so I knew there would be plenty of projects to show off here. I love to make pretty things. Crafting makes me happy. Crafting gives me a purpose.
So then it hit me like a ton of bricks one afternoon this past summer. If crafting makes me happy and can help me come out of the funk, I’ll bet it can do the same for others. Crafting….happy….craftyourhappy.com That was it! I can help you Craft Your Happy and make myself happy all at the same time! It was brilliant! Do you have those moments when you think something is a “God thang?” This was one of those moments! I was more convinced when I found out that www.craftyourhappy.com was an available domain name!
It took me about four months to get comfortable with the idea of changing my blog name. Salvaging A Life was so deeply personal to me. It was hard to leave that behind. Right now, this new blog design, the new cheerful graphics…everything just makes more sense to me. It all came together without a hitch and I learned a little more along the way about how to change your main domain name…another lesson learned. I’ll use that Salvaging A Life name for something else sometime. Nothing goes to waste around here.
I know I have a story to tell. It’s a story that many others share. If the purpose of my pain is to bring forth something new, then so be it. I’m ready.
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. – Isaiah 43:19
I feel like maybe, just maybe…God is making a way in the wilderness I’ve been living in for the last three years.
If I can craft my happy….I can help you craft yours too!
What will you do to craft your happy today?
