The great Khaleesi herself, Daenerys Targaryen might have been the mother of dragons, breaker of chains; the unburnt, etc.,. But she doesn’t have a patch on me.
Yeah that’s right.me. Niamh. Wiper of arses, dresser of toddlers, sheriff of shit town, short order chef, kid dropper offer and picker upper; the bad cop, the unwashed and so on and so forth.
Game of Thrones is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year and I couldn’t help but think about how my life had changed in that decade.
I remember after I broke my ankle seven years ago playing rugby, I was recuperating in our tiny one bedroom apartment I lived in with with my husband, then finance. I’d had to get a metal plate but in after I broke my ankle, so I was able to do a couple of weeks of lounging in bed watching boxsets… and call me crazy, but I would actually go through the pain of breaking it again and the surgery that followed if I could even have one full duvet day, alone, in bed, eating crap and watching whatever the fuck I wanted and having no one calling me.
Anyway, my husband picked up game of thrones for me and so began the binge fest. I was hooked on Khaleesi and the gang.
Back then myself and himself were planning our wedding. We were beholden to no-one. We could stay in bed all day if we wanted to. We went for lazy brunches, went to the cinema. We could at the drop of a hat make plans and not have to consider anyone else. It was just us. We could pick up and take off whenever the mood stuck us.
Then once we got married, things really moved fast. I remember a year after we said ‘I do’ we got our first house. Then the dog, then a couple of months later I was pregnant and the world changed.
I had two babies in three years and I went through the fight of my life with post-natal depression.
Turns out Khaleesi and I had a lot in common. Becoming the mother of dragons completely changed her life. She walked into the fire with those three dragon eggs and came out with three little lives that set her on a new course. She emerged a different women and the journey she found herself on wasn’t always an easy one.
Having my two little dragons changed my life as well. I walked through a similar fire and came out a different person. My fire was post-natal depression and my journey wasn’t an easy one either.
But a bit like Dany, I found myself again. I didn’t have a Khal Drogo or John Snow in my corner and nations didn’t bow down to my presence, but I did find myself developing super powers I never knew I had, like existing on coffee fumes and no sleep. Only getting a shower once a week (hence the unwashed bit!) Answering the unending questions of a four year old, becoming a highly skilled toddler moan interpreter, as well multi tasking at an Olympic level, becoming a pretty decent short order chef and possessing the ability to wipe two tiny arses in quick succession to then go and pick up the dog shit in the garden without skipping a beat. Never, ever doubt that I am the Sherriff of shit town.
I also found new depths if strength in my battle with post-natal depression, I found new levels of love I never knew I possessed for my two little dragons and while things didn’t work out so well for the great Khaleesi in the end, well guess what, I’m still here mothering the shit out of life.
Take that Khaleesi.
And yes, that is me and the little dude on the Iron throne to prove it... Ms Targaryen never got her bony arse on it in the end did she!?