Amie and Keith Brewer have squeezed just about every major life event into their first year of marriage.
They have grown through a series of ups — a wedding, a house and an amazing weight loss journey — and downs. Through it all, Amie continues to blow Keith away with her cutting humor, work ethic and willingness to grow into her role as a “Wicked Stepmother.”
“It’s been quite the adventure,” he said. “We bought a house and got married. We moved. It’s just been a lot of life-changing things happening in this first year.
“She’s my best friend. Even when I go out with friends, the whole time I’m thinking, ‘I just wish my best friend was here with me.’”
Amie and Keith celebrate their one-year anniversary on Father’s Day, which falls less than a month after their own family holiday, “Wicked Stepmother Day” on May 19. That unique term of endearment points to the love that Keith’s sons Sylas (10) and Alaric (8) feel for Amie, but also to how she has embraced being a parent.
“She’s actually amazing,” Sylas said. “She helps me with everything. If I need her to help me with homework, she’s on it. She’s very helpful and thoughtful. I think she’s the best ‘Wicked Stepmother’ in the whole history of the world.”
Amie would be the first to say that being an amazing parent wasn’t really a blip on her radar for the longest time. Life at that point was, after all, “The Amie Motherf—-ing McGill Show,” and it took some warming up to moving away from a solo act to becoming a family woman.
Much to her credit, Amie is rolling with it.
“She has embraced it and tried to include them not only in her own fun, but also has really tried to engage in things she thinks they would think is fun,” her mom Deanne said.
At the same time, Amie has changed her life by losing 160 pounds through a strict diet and bariatric surgery. Her amazing weight loss was chronicled in the hospital magazine and in the local newspaper.
Amie learned in several ways what it meant to sacrifice and, according to her mother, “grow up.” She is owning every single one of her life choices.
“She just got to this place in her life where she owned it,” Deanne said. “She owned her life and decided the choices she was making were important and were having an impact and she wasn’t just going to slide by. Keith seems to be pretty ‘Yay Amie,’ which is what she needed, someone who took her at face value and just loved her, and she has really blossomed.
“I’m super proud of her. I can’t even tell you how proud of them I am, both of them. I really think Keith has been instrumental in helping her love herself and see herself through different eyes.”
But make no mistake, this journey is about Amie and the wife, “Wicked Stepmother,” and healthy woman she is choosing to become.
And it doesn’t stop there, either.
Amie has a passion for becoming a police officer after recently graduating with a degree in criminal justice. That’s yet another piece of her life that could come together as soon as she finds the right fit.
She and Keith have had a busy and beautiful first year of marriage, but it’s quite clear they’re going somewhere special together. They are growing together as individuals, as a happy couple and as a family, one that Amie is a driving force that brings it all together.
“Amie, you have changed my life for the better,” Keith said. “I have learned what it’s like to be loved Earthly as God loves. You have taught me how to communicate, which has never been a strong suit of mine. I have more tolerance for people now. You have touched our boys’ lives with love, memories and helped create a foundation for two wonderful young men in the making. Thank you for that.
“You make me want to be a better man, better father, a better person, and now a husband worth your love. I promise that when you need protecting, I will protect you. When you need support, I will support you. Whatever, you are going through, it won’t be alone; I will be there with you. I promise to mirror the love God has for us and our relationship for all the days of our lives.
“Thank you for choosing me.”