About Me
by Melanie Bettinelli on December 29, 2011
Once upon a time I thought I would be a novelist when I grew up. Later I grew older and wiser and learned I have no aptitude for fiction so I thought I’d be an English professor. Then I discovered I was ambivalent about Academia. Then I met my true love, got married and I became a stay-at-home mother. I never set out to be a blogger, I just woke up one day and found I had a blog and couldn’t stop writing. So I suppose I have come full circle and am a writer after all.
Welcome to the story of my life.
I don’t think of myself as a mommy blogger but I am a wife and mom of four, soon to be five, and much of this blog is a record of funny things my kids say and do and about the joys and trials of being a mom because this blog is the only baby book my kids are ever going to have and is also the best way to share a slice of our lives with far-off family and friends.
Neither do I think of myself as a religion blogger, though my Catholic faith is the bedrock of my life and I write about in ways that are serious and those that are not so serious. I like to think of my home as a domestic church where I teach my children to know God so that they can love him and serve him so that one day we can all rejoice together in heaven.
I write about books of all sorts and about education and educational philosophies, about motherhood and my children, about faith, love, and hope and quilting and what I’m cooking for dinner. Welcome to my world, where diapers and Homer meet.
A Brief History
Born and bred in Austin, Texas. I learned to read before I went to kindergarten and they’ve had a hard time prying the books out of my fingers ever since. I’m the eldest of four and a cradle Catholic. I’m an alumna of the University of Dallas with a BA in English (1996) and of Boston College, MA in Literature and Irish Studies (2002).
After I caught my MA, I just about gave up on pursuing a PhD. Instead, I taught as an adjunct professor at Salem State College and Montserrat College of Art. I taught composition, Humanities, and one lone Literature class. I longed to teach more literature; but jaded with Academia, I hesitated to commit to a PhD program.
Enter stage left, Domenico Bettinelli, Catholic journalist and blogger, native of Boston, passionate grandson of Sicilian fishermen. We met at mass one Sunday, introduced by my roommate. Several years later we had our first date at an Irish pub over a few pints of Guinness we talked books late into the night. We had a double date with his sister and her husband to The Passion of the Christ. Our first kiss was during Holy Week of 2004. We married in the church where we met in August 2005 and honeymooned in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. (Yes, we went to Green Gables. I’m an Anne fan.)
In May of 2006, nine months and five days after our wedding, my flirtation with Academia ended for good with the birth of our daughter, Isabella Marie. She was soon followed by Sophia Therese in March of 08, Benedict Joseph in July of 09, and Anthony Ignatius in February 2011. Lucia Rose is due to arrive on December 31 2012. Hopefully she won't come early like Anthony did.
If you want to find out the rest of the story, you'll just have to keep coming back for more.
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