Phew! That turned out to be a more extended break than we imagined. We’re back!

I wondered if we would write those words again for a million reasons. We have been through some hard times since our unplanned hiatus. To be fair, we have also had some great times mixed in. We have had respites of joy and pockets of peace.

But I am getting ahead of myself. There is so much to say that we couldn’t even say until now because we didn’t fully comprehend it. Let’s rewind.

We began this blog nearly 9 years ago. (I don’t calculate very well, so you can thank Lowi for this tidbit of information.) And when we began, I was closing in on turning 40. Lowi was just a few years ahead like she has been my whole life.

In 2013, we were excited to tell you about our lives in a way that felt relatable to you and helped us to understand ourselves better. We were full of zest and probably more than a bit of sarcasm. And I don’t mean this as a slight against us, but we were also innocent from our vantage point of today. We had no earthly idea what the next decade would bring. Difficulties that landed on our doorstep, challenges that we hauled ourselves through, and experiences that we feared we might never get to the other side of. 

Another way to say that is we have been living life. If we had been able to pause and really look at where we were five or six years ago, we likely would have been able to notice we were changing. We were little by slowly evolving into different people. The friction of life had begun to reshape us, as it does to everyone. But we couldn’t see it. 

After some of the more challenging times that brought us to our knees, we were focused on desperately trying to get back, to return. All that time, we thought we could reclaim who we used to be. We thought we could climb back into the lives we had in our early 40s, and all would be well.

But we couldn’t. Nobody can. While we shared bits and pieces of some of these challenges, we didn’t fully bring you into those details because we were just trying to survive them. In addition, the blog was often times an escape. It was a place to have fun and a way to write the next chapter of our story when the one we were in was too heavy.

As Lowi and I finally landed on what seemed to be more solid ground and set our sights on re-engaging with life and recapturing some of that light-heartedness that used to come far more quickly, the pandemic arrived.

As you know, that period of years was a collective wounding. It’s something that none of us had ever imagined or lived through. That changed us all. How could it not?

As COVID restrictions began to lift and life began inching its way toward a regular rhythm, we started to feel like oxygen could fill our lungs again. OK, now we can get back to our “old lives.” Right?!

But no. There is no going back. The final push for us to realize that we have changed, in many ways dramatically, was a string of life events that ended with me calling Lowi in a cold sweat to say, this isn’t working anymore. The blog and our approach to it no longer felt like it fit. I became aware that I was trying to put on a persona that was no longer entirely true.

Of course, the essence of who I was 9 years ago is the same as I am today in many ways. But I am also far different. Lowi is, as well. I suppose this is what life does. It molds us and shapes us. 

If you have managed to hang in there this long, you may wonder if this is a long-winded way to say we are ending the blog. Nope, we aren’t quitters. 

Instead, we are returning truer to who we are now. We have loads to tell you. Some of it will be truly full of sunshine, and a part of it may land a bit heavier. But more importantly, we hope it resonates and feels more true to how you experience life because it isn’t all sunshine and sarcasm. Sometimes, it’s heartbreak and grief; others, it’s apathy and despair. And still, yet at times, it’s awe and unadulterated joy. 

We are back. We are still Lowi & G, just maybe more so.