Blog name change - why?

I just wanted to do a quick post about why I decided to change the name of this blog.

Originally it started out as 'Happiness In Grief'. When I first set up this blog, perhaps in the first year following Ric's death, I felt very connected to that title. It just made sense to me. Because I had managed to find little moments of happiness despite still being deep in the grief. And I do still like that saying, because I do feel like it is possible to feel happiness even when still grieving.

However, as I've moved further along on my grief journey, and now that i'm about 4 and half years in, I don't really want it to be the only thing that defines me anymore. Sure, I still feel the presence of my grief sometimes, and I'm really not sure that grief ever actually fully goes away. I think once you've lost someone, it is a feeling that you carry for the rest of your life. But my grief doesn't define me anymore. It doesn't show up in my day to day thoughts or actions. It's still there somewhere, but it's not lingering near the surface like it used to.

Hence why I decided to change the name of the blog. I wanted also to be able to write about other things and not be solely centered around grief. I wanted to be able to write about life in Switzerland, life as a single (sorry, solo!) mom and maybe other things too.

So, I started to try and think of another name. I wanted it to be something that fit with me and who I am, but also portray the journey that I've been on.

And so I landed on "Sam's Solo Coaster". Anyone who knows me will know that I'm a big roller coaster geek ! So having the word coaster in there seemed very fitting. Plus it is also a bit of a play on words kind of hinting at the fact that this solo parenting journey i've been on has been like a rollercoaster .. which it has (isn't that just parenting though?!).

So yes, "Sam's Solo Coaster" seemed to fit quite well.. and that's what I went with :-)