Shoved to Them
I first heard of Kelly Mantoan last summer at Edel in Austin. I don’t know what rock I’d been living under, but when she stood on the stage and started rapping, I was in complete awe. Where had she been all my life? When I got home that Sunday night, the first thing I did was look up her blog – there she was in all her hilarious glory with two kids in wheelchairs.
In the months since then, we’ve become friends thanks to the wonders of Facebook and the internet. On the days that I want to bang my head into the wall because of doctors or insurance companies, she’s right there with a “yup, I’ve been there.” You can’t put a price on knowing you’re not alone. (Especially when the other person is hilarious and insanely cool.)
Last week, we decided to Skype chat with each other and record it for posterity (and our blog readers.) We waited until the kids were in bed and our husbands otherwise occupied, and we grabbed some wine and turned on the cameras. What followed was in interesting, and very often funny, conversation about the reality of being a special needs mom to a physically handicapped child (or two.) We talked, laughed, and drank wine together like old friends. (One of us had a sensible single glass while the other downed half a bottle.)
Kelly used her genius skills to edit it into something fit for the public. I hope you enjoy eavesdropping on what we’re like when we’re at home. We’ll definitely be doing this again (I still have that remaning half bottle of wine.) So if you have questions you’d like us to answer or things you’d like us to discuss, please leave it in one of our comboxes. If you have Stupid Human Tricks you’d like us to attempt, leave those too and we’ll get to them if we have time.
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