Life: Unfiltered

Today I had a crazy idea. I thought I would try to take a picture of my child. Now, a picture, isn't that difficult. I take several pictures of Caroline every day. Today was different. We were playing and having a great time. Amidst the laughter, I was busy snapping pictures trying to capture each smile, each nose crinkle, each mischievous look. Then, during a nap time, I glance at the dangerous distraction that is social media. Everyday, with Facebook, Instagram, and, my personal favorite, Pinterest, we are  inundated with perfect pictures of perfect homes filled with perfect families and perfect furniture. Suddenly, what once seemed "just right" seems somehow lacking. The thing about social media is we can filter our images and how we are perceived. Nobody wants to post a picture of a burnt dinner with a #homemadegourmet. We post the good stuff- the picture of the happy-Pottery-Barn-catalog family at the pumpkin patch (#blessed, #fallfamilyfunday) when, maybe, the whole experience  was absolute misery( #carridefromhell.) There's nothing wrong with posting the good stuff- I mean that's really what we want to focus on in life! If I can just be real for a minute, I honestly don't want to scroll through my newsfeed and see a post about a kid crying or one filled with complaints about a lazy spouse. I don't believe in using social media as a weapon- especially one formed against your family. That being said, I had a lesson today in filtering and being present.

I got some great pictures of Caroline being Caroline and fully enjoying it.

Then I saw pictures of babies in bows. Caroline has a dresser drawer full of bows that she never wears. I thought, "These pictures are great but how about a few dressed up?" Here's how that experiment went down…

"Uhhh, Mama? You know I don't wear bows." 

"Yeah, this thing is coming off in approximately 7 seconds." 

"Grrrr….Mama makes me so mad. Just wait until she gets that frizzy hair within my grasp. She will pay for this bow incident. "

"Bwahahaha! Victory is miiiiiine!!"

As I am unsuccessfully taking these staged, bow pictures, I notice how toys have taken over my living room. This room used to look nice. There wasn't always towels piled in the chair or blocks strewn across the floor, or a giant baby yoga mat in the center of the room. If you look closely, you can also see a brown Newfie on the leather couch- now, she has been a permanent fixture. I started feeling frustrated with myself…and then it hit me. I can spend time filtering my life or I can actually enjoy what is in front of me. I didn't get any good pictures of Caroline in a bow, but I got some great pictures of her being her and that's all that matters.

 Embracing transparency involves living an unfiltered life. I will keep focusing on the good things but I want the good to be genuine and not manufactured. Yes, I want my house to look nice along with the people in it, but mainly I want to spend each minute enjoying life with these people. My people.