Even if the picture isn’t perfect!
I have definitely gotten cynical in my middle-age years. I have zero tolerance anymore for any type of BS and will fight tooth and nail for what I believe in. But lately, even the day-to-day irritants are beginning to annoy me. Take the impending explosion of the picture-perfect Christmas cards that will make their way to my mailbox and into my psyche.
I get it, I was the same- dress the kids up in their best, find the perfect lighting, encourage the perfect smiles (after an hour of trying, bribery, and 85 attempts before snapping “the one”). You get the idea.
These days, all I want is to find that one picture that in some small way captures a fleeting moment of combined happiness. No more of the picture-perfect shot, I don’t have the strength to fight for that anymore. No matching outfits on the beach; I am lucky they remembered to pack ANY clothes. No yuletide greetings at the Christmas tree farm; we’ll be lucky if there is even a tree left by the time everyone gets home from college and finds the time to go get a tree. No, our card will be just a picture that makes ME happy.
I will try my best to not be jaded by the picture-perfect. I have yet to take my own professional photographs, or pictures from the fabulous vacation that we did not take because we were focused on much more important health issues, or the new house picture with the perfectly decorated mantle, unlike the one I threw together from HomeGoods.
I admit those picture-perfect snapshots bother me, but only for a little while. When I sit and look at my beautiful, yet not well-coiffed crew, I am so incredibly grateful that we are who we are, that we are not caught up in the BS, that we live as we live, and that we love as we love. Intensely, completely, and unconditionally.
Holly