Introductions are in disorder.
Um, hi. Welcome. Is it possible to have social anxiety when you’re sitting alone in a room writing an introduction to people that aren’t even going to see your face? No? Ok… well… here we are anyway. I guess I should start with why I’m doing this even though I kind of want to throw up at how overwhelming this is.
Introduction, right. Hey. Hi! I’m Amanda. I’m in my late 30’s and I have five kids with ages ranging from 4-20. Let me save your brain some math and just tell you that my oldest son was born when I was 17 and in my senior year of high school- that’s its own story, we’ll get there eventually. After that I’ve had a kid every 5 years-ish (with the exception of the two born like 5 min apart, also a story for another time) and so I’ve been parenting now for 20 years. This makes me no sort of expert. On ANYTHING. I’ve just experienced a lot so I can relate to a lot.
When social media became a thing (should I add music to the background so you can feel like we are back on MySpace?) I started posting about my kids, their antics, our lives, etc. mostly as a way to know I wouldn’t forget stuff, forever preserved in some cloud somewhere because my brain is sort of overloaded at all times. Turns out, I could have been keeping it in blog form instead of posting frequent status updates. This is probably a good time to tell you that I am NOT technology savvy and frequently have to hand devices over to my husband for fixing so I don’t throw them out the nearest window in frustration, thus why I never knew a blog would be perfect for my purposes.
Funny thing though, I find that the more I share the more connections I make with other people. The more I post about how my kid is completely naked (again) or how overwhelmed I am or any other completely human aspect of my existence, the more people are thankful for some honesty and assurance that they aren’t alone. Well, friends, you’re not alone and now I’m hoping to make this a more public way to show you that.
Here are a few other things you might need to know about me. I’m not a writer, not a professional anyway. My brain talks a lot of shit and I kind of just put it out there. My filter and grammar can be equally lacking so hold on to your butts. Humor is both a defense mechanism and something I enjoy so good luck figuring out why I’m being so hilarious. Or maybe just enjoy the laugh I attempt to provide, that’s also an option. I can’t teach you how to organize your socks (mine live in a giant basket, its every man for himself at sock time), or tell you the foolproof way to toilet train your kid. Hell, I can’t even tell you how to keep your bathroom from being covered in urine 24/7 and I’m 20 years deep. I CAN tell you that laughter and support are the keys to survival, hopefully you’ll find both here.
So, friends, there it is. A brief introduction (I think? I don’t know how long is brief on the internet). I’ve set up email and will be adding links for social media when I figure out how the fuck to do that- or when I ask my husband. Probably the latter. Check back for new posts, I’ll be starting weekly and adjust as I go. I’m basically winging it like I do in the rest of my life- good luck to us both!