Real Life
Dear Friends and Family,
Everything is perfect here at our house. Our marriage is perfect, our children and their spouses are without flaw. Our pets are the cutest and smartest. We all have great jobs that we are called to and feel passionate about. We are making great money and get to spend it however we want. We love our church. We love our friends. And our family? It’s absolutely perfect. We never argue or fight. We all believe exactly the same thing and have all decided together who to vote for in November. We don’t drink to excess or over eat, and we are all working towards the Ironman in Hawaii this October. We have the most perfect house that was decorated to perfection by the most valued interior designer in town. Everything matches and there is never a thing out of place. You could eat off the floor in our kitchen. Our dogs don’t shed, our pool is always crystal clear and blue as the sky, and our grass is greener than all the neighbors. Basically, our lives are perfect.
/////
Sometimes when I scroll through Facebook, this is what I think I see. Everything is just so good for everyone. I often wonder if nobody besides me ever feels like their life isn’t as exciting or perfect as everyone else’s. Recently I posted this picture to Facebook:
I think my comment was “Real life, people” There are the pink running shorts I accidentally bought in the wrong size but wear anyway. All kinds of charger cords, my physical therapy exercise worksheet, my camera with the Africa pictures I haven’t loaded onto my computer yet, books yet to be read and piles of paperwork. Every time my desk gets that way, I clean it up at some point and promise myself I won’t let it get that way again. Except it does. This is what happens here on a regular basis. Frequently.
We’ve had a lot of trouble with our pool this summer. It was green with algae for almost a month, in spite of the time, energy and money I spent trying to clear it up. I got a kick out of the Olympic pools in Rio turning green. Sort of made me feel better that I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t keep their pool clear this summer.
See the similarities? Except my pool wasn’t shown daily on international television. Whew.
2016 Rio Olympics – Diving – Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – 09/08/2016. General view of the Olympic diving pool (R) and the pool for the synchronized swimming (L) this afternoon. REUTERS/Sylvain Marchandise TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. – RTSM7GE
I could go through my pictures on my phone and show you a bunch that would make you think my life is perfect. And there are some moments that feel pretty close to perfect. I had the privilege of spending another weekend with six close friends from college recently. The kind of friends where you pick back up where you left off, whether it’s been 30 minutes or 30 years.
I also had moments that looked like this:
All the Reid girls have moved out, so we’re in the process of organizing, decluttering and re-doing some of their bedrooms. This picture is of “the holding room”, where things go that are in need of something. Selling, Goodwill, Storing… It’s not pretty, and I keep the door closed.
So I can choose to show you this:
The dirty hunting clothes on the floor in my bathroom.
Or I show you this:
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, with a rainbow, from a helicopter. They’re both real pictures and they both happened. We just usually only post the pretty ones.
Does your social media profile look perfect or does it look real? Let’s see some real. I’m interested. #reallife
What a great blog, Mel. You nailed it and made me think about which “picture” I choose show on social media. Life is messy, difficult, stressful, and definitely not perfect. Thank goodness for great friends who know our truth and love us anyway! Love you, sister.
Thanks Sally! Glad you love the imperfect me ❤️
Seems you are talking about me mom. I would echoe every line of the real life. Already struggling to balance up so much work with school and my real life now is so messed up . Feels like am running everywhere with no clear direction. But God is good. Thank you for the reminder. Love you mom
Thank you son! I know what a difficult season this is for you. So much going on. I remember feeling that way when I was in school too. No matter what I was doing, I felt like I should be doing something else. Will and I pray for you daily. And I love you!
Fidelis – YOU are one of the GOOD …no, ….GREAT pictures in Melody’s life! I will pray for God to bless you with some rest in this busy season. Love, Cricket
Oh my gosh this is so, so good and so, so true. I feel the same. Believe I suffer from fear of being left out or missing out whatevert. Ha! Tracy
Great post and oh so true! Both are true, but when we only put out the “pretty”, it begins to give off the wrong impression. It’s goo for we the viewer and we the poster to remember “it ain’t all vacation pics and perfect selfies”! Thanks for the reminder!
Thanks Shannon!
Stop by anytime and I will show you real life chaos as well. I keep telling myself, one day, one day I will have a clean house but not in this season!! Thanks for posting!!
Katie, I remember when the girls were little, I would think “someday it will all be clean and stay clean at the same time.” So not true! Now they’re all grown and it is still a struggle. Real life is messy, isn’t it?
I guess I’m the voice of dissent. But honestly, who really thinks everyone lives perfectly and happily 24/7 just from looking at photos and Facebook posts? And if they do then that’s on them. We can’t control what others think. Social media isn’t supposed to be a diary , but a mere tool to keep in touch. Photos of a messy room? Um, why? Everyone has one. We can look at our own if we need to see clutter. Social media is just a way to hit the highlights, or it should be. Real life should happen in real life, face to face, one on one., not on a computer screen.
Thanks for your comment Juli. I agree with you that life should happen in real time, face to face. I just think it’s easy to scroll through our FB feed and only see the pretty stuff. Most people only post the good pictures. I appreciate your thoughts! Thanks for helping me see it from another angle.
Love this! I wrote a blog similar to this a while back and totally chickened out. The pics were just too frightening! I applaud your courage 🙂
Thanks Sherri!