From Mexico to Reddit to here…

I guess a first blog post should always start out with an introduction. A couple of months ago I become Reddit and YouTube famous when my husband posted the following on Reddit (don’t worry about what it says now, we’ll get to that!):

 https://www.reddit.com/r/AITAH/comments/1doe8xq/aitah_for_suspecting_my_wife_of_doing_something

It really blew up when a sort of famous YouTuber posted it with commentary on his account (this a more or less my husband’s first post that was on Reddit): https://youtu.be/6EnfUJrmEZw?si=r-51X_wVhVOGd02K

I hope it goes without saying, that I did not cheat on my husband. I never would and I will certainly get into that as the blogs go on. 

And after 10k total comments on Reddit, over 100k views on YouTube and being called every derogatory name possible, I was involuntarily embarked on one of the strangest chapters of my life.

The real me. While the videos and Reddit posts (there were several more, some written by my husband, some written by me, some written by third parties and in total cross posted to about 20 different subreddits) are a piece of me, like anyone else caught up in a social media fire (and mine was more of a match being struck) it’s not even close to the whole picture. From my eyes, the things that define me are I’m a mom and a wife who has worked in public education as a career. I think from the outside, I’m a blonde haired, blue eyed woman from central Texas who has never faced any real adversity in my life. For some reason, the latter is compelling and interesting to people. I’m sure to a degree, both of those things are true.

I met my husband when I was 13 years old. We were sat next to each other because I needed help in my enriched math class and he has always been something of a math savant. With the exception of a year long break (for reasons I will probably get into) we have been together ever since. That's just over 19 years by my count. I'm the mom of two kids who are now 8 and 6 and just a few weeks ago I got the very happy news that I'm pregnant with our third. I graduated as an education major and went to work as public school teacher in a couple different states and then worked as an assistant principal in a very under-privileged largely agricultural school district about 45 minutes away from where I live. And as you can see, I'm terrible at grammar and keeping a thought together. Yet, for some reason, a few thousand people on reddit found my story very interesting. 

The other thing I learned from the reddit experience is that I love writing. In the fall out of the "Mexico-Reddit" situation my husband and I started attending marriage counseling. Our therapist is one of the wisest people I've ever met and she encouraged me to write out everything that I felt. She even encouraged me to keep writing on reddit since it forced me to be honest and even get some harsh feedback on some of the challenges that I cause for myself and my husband because of years of un-tended and untreated mental health issues. 

As part of everything I've learned that I probably have bi-polar disorder and ADHD which probably explain some of the things I've done and situations I've found myself in over the years (the Mexico thing being one of them). My husband and I also have to face the fact that while we certainly love each other, we are also in a very co-dependent relationship. Usually we can tamp that down with some healthy sarcasm and an even healthier sex life but co-dependency is always going to cause issues. The good news is that after a very public blow up, we have found the help we need and I think we are in this marriage for the long haul. 

I think there is a very good chance I won't get a single reader to this blog. And while I would love for some of my old reddit friends to find me, I am doing this for myself. I understand that writing about me for me is an expression of narcissism but sitting at a computer, watching my thoughts appear on the screen has been one of the healthiest things I've ever done for myself. I suppose I could just as easily put this on a google doc and save it but there is something about being "published" that makes it so much more enjoyable for me. 

My near term goal for this space is to transfer all of my posts over from reddit while I still have access to that account. So in the next few days I'll post all of good, bad and ugly that got us here. 

Since my husband, known to me as Bubs since we were 14 years old, will certainly be my first reader--I love you very much you big dork. Thank you for everything you have ever done for me. I live a life of love and happiness that I didn't think was possible.