It’s been a while.

Life got kind of hard.

I took a stress quiz a while back, one that measures the cumulative effect of various life events, and I’ve blocked out the number it came up with. It was high. Very high. For a while there was a serious upset every couple of months, primarily deaths and natural disasters. Add in less traumatic headaches from work and surprise house repairs. Literal headaches, as well — my spinal fusion didn’t take.

So for a while I stopped feeling much of anything. Not really sadness, just acceptance. Maybe something closer to resignation. I kept functioning, and most people couldn’t tell there was anything wrong, but those who know me well sensed it. I did what had to be done, but not much more. I stayed inside my own head, silently resenting having to come out.

But I’ve started hearing the birds again, and can feel the excitement of a new project that’ll involve mechanical skills and esthetics. I’m noticing the world outside, and don’t feel fragile anymore.

I have a theory that there are two kinds of people: For some, bad things are scattered evenly throughout their lives, and they’re able to recover from one before the next one hits. For others, difficulties cluster, but between the clusters are long stretches of time where life is very good. This has been the pattern in my life.

Maybe this particular bad stretch is over.