I’m Amy. So glad you’re here!!

Let’s start at the very beginning…

My name is Amy Mathews-Muttwill (pronounced “Moot-ville”)! I’m also known as “Mama Muttwill” on my Instagram handle, and although it was just something that was available and catchy, the name has kinda stuck and become a part of who I am.

So, why the hyphenated last name? Well, let me explain…

I’ve never been a fan of overly complicated, hyphenated names. I mean, why? Right? It just sounds so formal. And formal I am not.

But…here’s how it happened…

I met and married a wonderful, Austrian man, Thomas, with the last name “Muttwill” while I was living, singing and working in Austria from 1999 to 2004. However, since I knew we’d soon be moving back to the U.S.A. after we exchanged our vows in June 2004, and that his last name would be butchered in our new home in Texas, and because everyone I knew and worked with up til that point already knew me by my last name “Mathews”, I decided to keep that name as well.

And my full confession is, I didn’t know how to explain my new married name to people back home. If I said it the way it was supposed to be pronounced, I was accused of “saying my name with an accent” and it confused people because of the spelling vs. pronunciation. But if I pronounced it the way it looked, it sounded horrible to my own ears.

In German, the word mutig means brave or courageous, and while it isn’t necessarily a common name, it worked out just fine for my husband and his family for centuries as a respectable, every-day-Joe sort of name.

But in English, the word mutt has quite a different connotation. It either refers to an animal who is a mixture of breeds, or, although I’ve never heard it spoken like this, it can also refer to a stupid person or an idiot.

Nice, huh?

For years, this name, Muttwill, was definitely not something I embraced or felt proud of. I’m just being honest. But now, almost 15 years later, I can say that I’ve learned to accept our name and even come to embrace it. While I’ll never love the way Texans pronounce it (lol), I have come to appreciate it and even make up my own significant meaning of the name to tell the story of us.

So, about this blog…

Just like the word in English means “mixed breed”, we as a family are a mixture of breeds as well. My husband and I come from two very different cultures that speak different languages, eat different foods, have different communication styles, appreciate different aesthetics and even share different values and beliefs. While we love each other dearly, we sometimes struggle to find common ground and see eye-to-eye on things that we each hold important. And not only do we struggle within our own relationship, but when we look outside of us and where we live, we are challenged by the fact that, while we love it here and have adapted to the way of life in Texas, we are also not from here and don’t always fit in with our surroundings or share similarities with those we come in contact with on a daily basis.

We are, oftentimes, outsiders looking in, observing the mentalities and behaviors of people around us. Without even consciously thinking about it, we are comparing the way people are here, in Austin, TX, with the way they are back home.

And what is home? We’re not too sure. You know the song “No Roots” by Alice Merton? We can really relate to that song!! When we return to Vienna, Austria to visit our family and friends there, we embrace the familiarity and culture that was once a very organic, natural part of who my husband is and an alternate life I grew to love and become a part of. Part of our visit feels like that warm bath we’ve been craving. Every bite of food feels like the best thing we’ve ever tasted, and the air and the scenery and even the water make us long for that place we used to call home. But also, when we find ourselves in that environment, we are often confronted with how little we can now relate to that mentality as well. We are faced not only with the familiarity of something we’ve always known to who we’ve now become from living elsewhere and experiencing something completely different. We’ve now changed. And this place we hold so dear in our idealistic memories is not the most ideal place for where we are in our lives today.

I have the same experience when I return to Kansas City, Missouri where I grew up and visit my family and all the old, familiar places. It’s not as drastic as returning to Vienna, but I still go through what I like to refer to as “reverse culture shock” as I embrace all the endearing things I’ve missed and am in the same breath, completely appalled by the way things are that I’ve conveniently forgotten.

In essence, we are all mutts, right? We are all transplants from somewhere else — especially if you live in the U.S.A. But, my effort here is to share one perspective of life as a Mutt-will in hopes that I can relate to those in the same boat, wherever you are transplanted, and help navigate those sometimes lonely paths of isolation and unwanted distance from the people and the cities we love and hold dear to our hearts. In addition, I also want to shed some light for others who have never uprooted from the place and the people they came from.

So happy you stopped by!

xo,

Amy