Hi, SarahCate here- It's been a minute. Well, ok- it's been 3 years. The last post I made here was in December of 2019, and frankly- that was the last day of real normalcy (such as it is) I had.
On January 1st, 2020 I woke to a phone call from a cousin saying that my adopted dad thought he'd had a stroke. I'll spare you all the long story- but the tl:dr is on December 12th, 2020- dad passed. I'd spent the 11 months between his stroke and his passing driving nearly 2 hours each way to take him to appointments, to check up on him, to spend time with him.
And of course, during that year Covid took over the world, and all of our "normals" were disrupted. More than once, I sat at my computer and tried to write a new blog post, tried to sort through dead links, tried to filter through bookmarks to add new resources. But every time- I just... couldn't.
I've kept the site paid and up and running, because I know people were still finding it, surfing, finding and using resources. I have always intended to come back to PSS, really give it my all again. But with chronic pain, severe adhd, and well... life in general- actually DOING it was too challenging. But this last week we got mentioned by the facebook page for "But You Don't Look Sick," which has a massive audience. Our site hits went through the roof, I started getting messages, we started getting contact forms alerting us to dead links... and it seems- we're needed again.
So- I'm here. Feeling encouraged and bolstered by the renewed interest, my plan is to start (well, with this post but also) checking and pulling dead links, then sorting through the hundreds of bookmarks I've been saving for the last 3 years, then putting out a call for new resources from the community.
I'll need some patience- I'm doing this alone this time around, and my pain continues to get worse rather than better. But I'll be working on the site as much and as often as I can, and you can bet- there'll be a big celebratory post when all the work is caught up again!
In the meantime, if this is your first time here- you'll probably find some shops listed on these pages have closed, and the layout may get ugly at some point too while I fix and rearrange- but PSS will live again. And for those of you who have been here all along- waiting patiently- thank you.
Thrilled to have PSS back! I have been continuing to link folks to this resource and share it (and have continued to use it myself). I am so sorry for all the things life has thrown at you, but I am happy to hear that you are doing okay. Also, last we chatted on Tumblr I was fundraising for my Service Dog and now he is 3 years old and amazing- thanks again for the support with everything over the years <3