Hmmm, I just wrote a long, lyrical replay and then lost it.
I remember buying my FM2 at B&H in NYC in 1999. I was standing right next to Mayor Giuliani, who was chatting with a salesman, camera in hand. I bought a cheap Sigma zoom with it. We travelled together to Slovakia in the Peace Corps, and had a lot of adventures. That zoom sucked, but we made great images together. I loved the camera, very intuitive.
It's been a long journey since then, photographically and in life in general. I got into rangefinders for a while, and have made the film to digital and back again switch many times.
Right now I'm trying film again. DR5 is back up and running and I have some scala film to make black and white slides with. I just won a Bessa R3a with a misadjusted RF (easy fix) and am eyeing classic Canon and Nikon glass, and maybe a Zeiss ZM. But I keep looking at Nikon SLRs, too, an FM or FE or an F2 with the plain prism. Part nostalgia and part recognition of a great, inexpensive, hard to kill tool.
In these last few years, photography has been tough for me, so I can relate to the OP. Divorce, relocation, having my kid move away, new job, new girlfriend, so many things. I photographed my previous life in such intricate detail. Those images are in boxes and on a hard drive. I find it harder to photograph now. I look more, think more, try to use my brain as the emulsion. But I am finding myself again and am feeling ready to start making images again. And it feels like film.
Kinda like I am migrating away from social media. Or how I want my work to be more tangible than moving emails around. It's an interesting life.
Not sure where I will go from here. Rangefinders? Nikon SLRs? I know it doesn't matter, and this part of the journey is fun, too.