So how did all this happen?
The short version: Message with a Bottle is a parenting blog based on post-it notes.
The long version: Alright, you asked for it.
After the birth of my first child, I quit my job to be a stay-at-home dad or SAHD for short, though I never use that acronym because it looks and sounds too much like the word sad.
Daycare is obscenely expensive.
It made more fiscal sense to stay home with my kid child than to collect a paycheck, only to hand it over to a daycare facility to watch my young son.
Still home on maternity leave, my ex-wife left me alone with my newborn son for the first time.
She reminded me, again and again, of all the duties I was to perform while she was gone. I better write this down, I joked and grabbed some post-it notes and a black Sharpie.
As a joke (because I rarely take anything in life seriously), I wrote down even the simplest of tasks and pinned it to my bulletin board.
I forgot all about the note.
I also forgot to change the baby.
On that day, the Message With a Bottle Tumblr was born.
The Birth of Message With A Bottle & Becoming the “Post-It Note” Dad
The notes immediately struck a nerve with readers.
I received emails, Facebook messages, Tumblr comments, and tweets from men and women, parents of young children, grown children, parents, stay-at-home
In January 2014, an editor at a website dedicated to the happenings in Claremore, Oklahoma, did a short post about my website.
The article went viral strictly on social media sharing.
A few hours, and six million views later, my name, face, and half-assed approach to parenting was the lead story on The Huffington Post, The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Daily Mail, The Blaze, and countless other websites and media outlets.
Television stations from across the United States emailed for interviews.
Australian morning shows called to book me as a guest. G’day!
The outpouring for Message With A Bottle was incredibly positive, humbling, and borderline absurd.
The notes were featured on Mommyish, ABC News, Woman’s Day, Good Housekeeping, Country Living, Cosmo, Refinery29, 22 Words, Working Mother, Redbook, How To Be A Dad, and Good Morning America.
One of my notes even started a fight between Luke Skywalker and Captain America!
I’m incredibly humbled by the outpouring for my silly little musings and nervous I’ll never be funny again.
So What’s Going On Now??
A great deal has happened since those early days of note-taking.
On the personal side, I’m a divorced dad now. The marriage ended in 2017.
On the career front, I’ve written five books and the notes went on to become a top-selling calendar. In the summer of 2021, the 3M people came calling, and I’m now an official brand ambassador for Post-It Notes and have my own line of notes that include a To-Do List and Weekly Meal Planner.
And that’s my story. Aren’t you sorry you asked?
Wait, you didn’t ask? My bad.
If you’d like to learn more or have something you want to show me, send me, sell me, steal from me, or want to advertise on MWAB, email me at messagewithabottle [@] gmail [dot] com. If you want to read my writing that isn’t about my kids, check out my official website.
FOLLOW ME: INSTAGRAM | TIKTOK | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | TUMBLR
0 comments on “About Chris Illuminati”