"Damn it feels good to have a reason to be grateful again."

I feel you there. I am actually doing okay here and not too shabbily (that's probably not a word but I'm using it) in the real world. It's a weird feeling but its pretty nice.

"Since not much has changed around here since I left during the final days of 2018, I was thinking more along the lines of, I wonder if they're still around."

I wondered the same thing when I took my three months off and was happy to see a lot of people that I talk to were still around. I think this rough period culled some of the herd but it seems like the strong and the stubborn (thats my camp) stuck around.