I am about to revel my biggest secret of all. Am I ready to? No. Should I? Yes. This has been something I have wanted to blog about for a long time. as a reminder to all of you, and most of all to myself…
Here it goes. What you see on Facebook, Instagram, etc. is not always as it appears.
As most of you know, I have photo obsession. Photos and the moments they represent will always be near and dear to my heart. Growing up, my mom took pictures of EVERYTHING. From bath time fun, to adventures at the zoo. I always loved the ability to look back and re-live those memories through photos. Now that I am a mom, I, too, want to carry on this tradition.
Living away from our families and many close friends, I have a tendency to post a lot on social media so that Jax’s life (and mine, too) can be shared. It makes me feel that even though I can’t see all my loved ones everyday, we can bond over life’s events, even if only through a photo.
However, with this comes the stark reality that of course every photo that goes up and out is the most perfect photo we can create, and often times, the one that is not “truly” in the moment, but one that we meticulously set-up, timed and filtered. We are all guilty for it. All of us.
So, I thought I would share yesterday’s adventure which demonstrates this perfectly.
I get myself ready and bundled up for the Vancouver winter (yes, I have become a true Vancouverite that feels that -1 is cold). I then proceed to bundle Jax up with his touque and gloves and place him in my cloth carrier (which I absolutely HATE. Story for another blog, but I should have known a piece of cloth that carries a baby sounds too good to be true). I finish the task up with putting Harley (my beloved fur baby) on his leash, and head out for a nice family walk to the beach!
Feeling proud and ready to tackle the day – daydreaming of seeing the ocean and all the beauty along the way – I take a photo to send to my husband of the start of our adventure.
As life would have it, we are half way through the walk and the cloth carrier begins to give way (as it always does- shocking!) and Jax is now on the verge of being closer to my knees than against my chest, as a result his gloves and socks are starting to fall off, all the while Harley is pulling the leash at every dog he sees. Harley is now covered in mud. I am sweating. The baby is fussing. I get us to the ocean for a peak and a moment of reprieve.
We are now so unbearably uncomfortable so we promptly begin the jaunt home — with me praying that we make it. At one point I thought of jumping in a cab or on the bus. Seriously. It didn’t hep that a stranger commented “It looks like you have your hands full.” Yup! Thank you, Sir, what ever gave you that impression?????
Long story short, we made it home, and upon reflection, we actually had a lot of fun despite it all. However, it was’t easy and it was NOT the walk to the ocean that I envisioned for the day. Not even close.
SO – here on the left is what we will call “Exhibit A” (the lawyer in me talking now). If you were to see Exhibit A as the only photo post from me that day some might say “Wow – looks fun! Looks like she has it all together – getting a dog and a baby out of the house for a walk.” I know this is what I would think.
Now look at the photo on the right, what we will call “Exhibit B”. THIS IS REAL LIFE PEOPLE!!!!!
Moral of the story – Yes, life is good. And yes, some people even really do have it all together most of the time. However, don’t believe everything you see or read.. things are NOT how they always appear.
Don’t be fooled.
Have a nice day!
M.J.
