Mean well. Do good. Never give up.

One thing that you learn very quickly after you begin filming a reality television show is that there's not much reality to it. I wouldn't go as far to say it's "scripted" but it definitely has a pre-fab feel to it. That could also be because we had challenges put forth for us, each week had a theme and within that theme they built out some pre-determined narratives... so it all makes sense... in a sense.

Until January there's not much I can say in relevance to the specifics of the show, but I can say that I met a LOT of amazing people and did a lot of amazing things. 

You may have noticed that my blog suffered because of that commitment... as did my family life and thankfully not too much in my work life. I felt like I had made a commitment and I had to see it through, start to finish, putting 100% of myself into it as much as I could. Short term suffering, long term gain. 

So what did I gain? 

Well, aside from an amazing new community of people who constantly surround and support me, a new feeling of "home" that I'd been longing for for myself and my children, and letting go of my fear of the unexpected? I gained perspective. 

I met literally hundreds of people who each have a thing. They each have a reason to keep going, a reason they could stop, a fundamental greatness about them. I want you to meet all of these people, because they're all amazing. 

I don't know if the production team hand picked each of them because they are so great, or if, in fact, each and every person in the world has a goodness to them and they put out the call and those people answered, but they were there nonetheless. Some contributed with their entire selves every week, relentlessly... some contributed where they could and that's totally fine, as well. Some, well, some were barely there.  And you know what? You can't blame them for that either. The "Show" was such a huge unknown going into it. We had no real concept of how much time or dedication it would take, what would be asked of us. I mean, most families had no idea if or how much they were even going to be featured. 

Being featured. Now that's one aspect of the show that became a sore point for some people. "Featured" meaning that your family was followed on a regular basis and your "storyline" will likely be more prominent in the show. Nothing is for certain, as many of us now know our entire presence on the show could end up on the editing room floor, but some people were a bit off put that they weren't "featured". 

I'm looking at this from the other side, for certain, because my family was featured. I look at us like the token mixed family. We're young, we're relatively "hip", we have just made some major financial and lifestyle changes and people can identify with us. We didn't once ask to be a featured family. We didn't turn it down, all we could do was be as present as we could and take on each challenge as it came. It just so happened that my forte in life is Graphic Design, Marketing and Communications. That means that my skills came in quite handy for a majority of the challenges, so along with having our narrative showcased (probably), my presence also became fairly prominent for many of the challenges. 

Aside from all of the background drama (I'll get to that after January! :P) the show in and of itself was a very positive experience. 95% of the people who took part in it and stayed committed to it are amazing people. They each made the show what it was.

I'm not sure, in the end, what is going to end up on TV. How much of the "real" reality that we experienced will be brought to life on camera, but I'll do my best to pick up where the story leaves off every week. My goal is to do interviews with the people who were prominent in each show, talk about their experiences during MDN and what life is like now, post MDN.

The best part of the whole experience? Even though the cameras crews are gone (and no longer tracking mud through my house, phew!) we, "the MDNers", or the "MDN Family" as we like to refer to ourselves, are still going strong. A few have dropped off, as their feelings of slight and lack of interest were easy enough to see, but the majority of us, the heart of the operation, we're still here. And we're still taking on the real meaning of the show, to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. To be a community and to take on challenges. We still all long to spend time with one another and do things together. 

It's almost like since production has ended, we feel like this new part of ourselves is missing, and we're trying to hold onto it for dear life, because we found something in ourselves in these other people. We see the good in ourselves through their eyes and we lift each other up! It really is a new type of family.

... Just before we finished filming I was thinking back on what I'd learned throughout the challenge. What I'd gained, and I told you, I've gained a new perspective on life. To commemorate that, I was thinking about getting a new tattoo. It's been a while and I like to highlight special times in my life with them, so it certainly stands to reason that this is one of those times. I thought how could I highlight the occasion in our lives and attribute it to this once-in-a-lifetime experience? Million Dollar Neighborhood.... M.... D.....N.... 

Mean Well.

Do Good. 

Never Give Up.

And, like anything else on this crazy show of ours, I can't go it alone. So a few of the other MDNers and I plan on getting inked together! I can't wait to show you the outcome! :)