Amy Patterson

Hi, I’m Amy, a systems thinker, wife, mom, and digital retail growth leader. I’m raising a strong-willed girl and three very large dogs. I write about motherhood, marriage, faith, business, and mostly organized (but sometimes feral) chaos.

That Time I Turned a PowerPoint Into a Pillow

Part of me hesitated before writing this. Not because it felt extra, but because I didn’t want it to come across as braggy. The more I replayed it in my mind, though, the more I realized it wasn’t about a pillow at all. It was about paying attention

Meanwhile, It’s Not Nothing

🧜‍♀️On building something small inside something full. I launched Meanwhile in January, and since then, 324 people have found their way here. Most of you came from Facebook. A few of you type the URL directly, which still feels strangely intimate. One post crossed 100 views. Several others didn’t.

Lent, Walmart, and the North Carolina Squat.

🩷On Lent, leadership, and the stories we build about strangers. Last night, Jimmy and I were stopped at a red light next to a truck so dramatically lifted in the front and dropped in the back that it looked mechanically confused. I had never even heard of a North Carolina

Meanwhile, in the Walmart parking lot.

✍️On preparation, parking lots, and the chapters we don’t see being written. I hit publish yesterday, writing about Q3 — about my boss resigning, the implosion that rattled our team, and the way I found myself standing in a leadership role I never planned to pursue, only to realize I

I Didn’t Know I Was Ready

🌿On disruption, denial, and stepping into leadership I never planned to pursue. I’ve been keeping a secret since last fall. In Q3, my boss resigned. Not just a senior leader on an org chart, but my boss. Our Global VP of Growth. A mentor. A friend. Someone I grew

Revival in My Backyard

🤍On softening, surrender, and the sound of a church without instruments. Revival is happening 15 to 20 minutes from my house, and Sunday night my two-year-old stood in our bedroom watching the livestream from SEU and kept saying, “I want to go to church. I want to sing

Four Valentine’s Days and a 120-Pound Dog

💖On peace signs, pit bulls, and the sacred speed at which children become themselves. Four Valentine’s Days ago, she was a literal grayscale alien taped to my refrigerator. A black-and-white ultrasound. Peace sign in the air. Two tiny fingers up like she already knew exactly what she

The Worst Advice I Ever Got Early in My Career (and Why I Refuse to Pass It On)

🤪On why real leadership starts when life goes completely off the rails (and why I'll never own a French Bulldog) Early in my career, a managing partner pulled me aside and offered what he clearly believed was hard-earned wisdom. Life, he said, is a triangle: work, friends,

The Meatloaf Incident

🫠A short reflection on help, gratitude, and very questionable food storage. There are moments in marriage that feel less like partnership and more like a very low-stakes true-crime forensics documentary. This is one of those moments. Last night, Jimmy put away the leftovers. Pause here, because this matters.

When the System Is Being Held Together With Vibes, Confidence, and a Google Calendar

🧐Reflections from someone who kept reading the fine print “A system that cannot explain itself eventually asks belief to do the work.” There is a moment when confusion gives way to clarity, and clarity gives way to something heavier. You are no longer missing information; you are noticing misalignment. The

Confidence Is Not Competence (And Florida Just Gave Us a Case Study)

🥶A cold snap, a Facebook meltdown, and a reminder that confidence isn’t competence. Florida got cold this week. Not Midwest cold. Not “snowblower” cold. But cold enough for a state built around heat, air conditioning, and flip-flops to feel it. Temperatures dipped into the 30s and even the

The Things Toddlers Say and the Quiet Pause That Follows

💖On small inputs, big meaning, and parenting without a script I’ve written a lot about systems thinking, usually in the context of marriage or work, but parenting keeps finding new ways to test the theory. Haisley was playing ABCmouse on her iPad, clicking through one of the early levels

Writing in the Margins of a Full Life (Feat. a Toddler Who Refuses to Sleep in Her Own Bed)

It is the middle of the night. The house is dark. My phone screen is doing that soft, judgmental glow it only does at 3:14 a.m. Everyone else is asleep. Everyone… except me. This is not because I am inspired. This is because my toddler has decided that

Systems Thinkers Come in More Than One Flavor

💡(Or: How I Realized at Almost 42 Years Old That I Was Raised Inside a System) I’ve written before about systems thinking, mostly through the lens of how it shows up in my marriage. What I didn’t realize at the time is that I hadn’t traced that

Boston.

🧊A professional obligation, an unavoidable return. I am currently en route to Boston for a 24 hour business trip. Yes, you read that correctly: twenty-four hours. Door to door. In, out, no survivors. On the agenda: one client dinner and a four hour presentation to the CMO of a

Why I Stopped Trying to Convert Him

🌿On planning, presence, and the limits of being ‘on top of things.’ Shared lives don’t require shared operating systems. They require trust. In a previous piece, I wrote about why my husband doesn’t think in systems and why that’s a good thing. This is the part I

Why Work Travel Is Never as Glamorous as It Sounds

✈️A realistic accounting of early alarms, hotel chairs, and carry-ons. Work travel sounds impressive in theory. It implies momentum. Importance. A calendar full enough to justify a 5:15 a.m. alarm and a gate assignment that changes twice before boarding. There is a certain prestige baked into the

family

On Receiving an Invitation (and What it Did Not Contain)

My daughter received her first birthday party invitation in December. I didn’t realize until weeks later that there was no way to respond.

marriage systems

My Husband Doesn’t Think in Systems. Here’s Why That’s a Good Thing.

🤪On marriage, mental load, and why two systems-brained people would probably need a divorce lawyer. In a recent post, I said “more on that later” when talking about how my brain works differently than my husband’s. This is the later. Thinking in systems often looks like naturally creating

life systems

Meanwhile, This Weekend

No lessons learned. No big reveal. Just a few days as they actually happened, because life doesn’t pause between the bigger moments.

travel systems

🇮🇹 Our Italy Itinerary

🧳A real, used, systems-brained travel itinerary built to reduce decision fatigue, survive chaos, and make room for enjoyment. Note: This itinerary reflects a completed trip. Personal booking references and sensitive details have been intentionally omitted. Italy 2025Italy 2025.pdf649 KBdownload-circle

life systems

I Thought I Was Bad at Everyday Life. Turns Out I Just Think in Systems.

🧠On groceries, anxiety, and finally understanding how my brain actually works. Before we start, a quick note. Yes, I just launched this blog. Yes, I’ve been posting frequently. There are a few reasons for that. It’s new. It’s exciting. It’s the start of a new year,

writing systems

On Doing This Anyway.

🦸‍♀️Bandwidth, timing, and starting before you're ready. It's 12:30pm on December 31, 2025. Most people are mentally checked out. Year wrapped. Inbox quiet. One foot already in next week. I’m sitting here finally doing the thing people have been telling me to do for

life systems

Meanwhile,

🧩An honest place for the parts that don’t make the highlight reel. I’ve spent most of my life earning things the long way. Being the underdog. Busting my ass. Figuring it out as I went, because there wasn’t another option. What people usually see is the outcome.

life systems

January 1.

🗓️On Starting the Year as You Are I don’t have resolutions this year. I have a short list of things I’m no longer pretending are temporary. There’s no clean slate here. Just the same life I had yesterday, plus the awareness that waiting for “after things settle