A lot has changed during the nearly five years and 15 seasons -16 if you count Arie’s season but we know better- that I’ve covered Bachelor Nation for That’s Normal.
I first began writing in 2015 during Chris Soules’ season. Back then Ashley I. was just a Kardashian lookalike getting dumped on a bed in a desert and I was just a pregnant twenty-something year-old desperate for a creative outlet. Now she’s married to the man she stalked in Paradise and I’m a thirty-something year-old without a uterus but with a relatively successful Instagram meme account that Tyler Cameron followed and then unfollowed. Growth!
When I started contemplating what I would write about for this final post the options were as endless as the hair extensions stuck in the Bachelor Mansion’s drains.
I could write about all of the current drama in Bachelor Nation – Demi and Kristian ended their engagement! JPJ and Tayshia broke up due to distance even though he moved to L.A.! Lauren Bushnell married that one country singer everyone pretends to like!
I thought about writing an ode to all of my ex-Bachelor boyfriends – I’ll never forget you, Peter Kraus.
I really wanted to reminisce on all of our favorite characters – Corinne’s Nanny! Mini-Marine! Robby Haye’s hair! Jordan’s piñata!
I even considered making predictions about Pilot Peter’s upcoming season – So. Many. Windmill. Jokes.
But in the end, the only thing I really wanted to say is thank you.
So, thank you for watching this ridiculous show with me or for at least letting me watch it for you. Thank you for laughing with me and ignoring my feminist rants. But mostly, thank you for embracing the fact that all humans are complex and complicated and we are allowed to like what we like. Even if what we like is watching an ex-NFL bench warmer jump over an 8 foot tall fence.
My time with That’s Normal writing about everything from The Bachelor and Outlander to recommending my favorite romance novels has given me friendships, opportunities, and the chance to rediscover myself aside from my identity as a mom. I’ll be forever grateful -just like Blake Horstmann was to get invited back to Stagecoach.
What’s next for me is still up in the air like the breasts of Pilot Peter’s 30 new girlfriends, but rest assured that I’ll find a new place to land. (Send me job opportunities!) In the meantime, please find me on Instagram here and here, and Twitter here. And as always, let’s cry talk in the comments.
