Hi there,

my name is Madison Bentley, and this is the very first post on my blog, ‘The Designated Mum Friend’. Coming up with a name for this blog was surprisingly easy. They say that when it comes to naming your blog, you should pick something jazzy and memorable, something that will catch the eye of the reader and linger in their mind to keep them coming back. But at the same time, it also needs to encapsulate everything you are as a person. Your thoughts, your feelings, your ideas, so that when you’re projecting them out into the world you’re doing so under the banner of your most authentic self.

In my short life, I’ve had three nicknames. The most frequently used, Mads (it really is a curse to have a seven-letter name). I went through a very unfortunate, very brief Maddie stage (you’d know if you met me that the last thing, I am is a Maddie), and the last and by far the weirdest of the trio, Mum. Now I know that a nickname like that definitely needs an explanation so let me fill you in. From when I was sixteen, to this very day, I am incredibly lucky to have some amazing friendships. But let me let you in on a secret, most of them (and you know who you are) are just total liabilities. It got to the point that it was essential that at least one of us was able to figure out how to get home from a night out and that role fell to me, Madison ‘Mum’ Bentley. So many jokes have been made about being the designated mum of the group that, unfortunately for me, the name seems to have stuck. Therefore, when it came to naming this blog, I knew exactly what to call it, and let me tell you it was never going to be Maddie related!

On a more serious note, 2020 has been an unimaginable year. Whenever you thought that things couldn’t get any worse, somehow each new upset seemed to trump (I love an indirect Trump pun) the one before. Which could have sent us all into such a deep spiral of paranoia and fear, that if we weren’t already under strict instructions to stay indoors, we probably would have done so readily. I have to say though, whilst no one likes being told what to do, 2020 really did me a favour as it allowed me an excuse to do what I love to do best, stay indoors. Like many people with too much time on their hands, I used all my new free time to pursue my passions and hobbies with a little bit more gusto. Flash forward a few months, a fair few hand cramps, and I had a journal filled with ideas and somewhat coherent ramblings. I’m not sure what really convinced me to create this blog, but I just felt that these ideas couldn’t just stay in a book.

All of the posts that are going to be uploaded onto this blog are inspired by conversations that I’ve had with friends, family and most importantly myself. As I said previously, 2020 has been an unimaginable year and it’s definitely given us a lot to reflect on. My hope for this blog is that it will extend these conversations and perhaps provoke some reflection of your own.

Thank you very much for reading and for visiting my blog. See you next week!

M x