Here’s a moment captured.
The weather is perfect, the background is perfect, and my life here is perfect. Not pictured:
– Fussy monster that she was that entire day – A full load of laundry stained with I-don’t-know-what – anything white now has both grey AND pink stains – A clogged duct that made breastfeeding painful – Baby’s first fever few nights prior that had me Googling 24-hour clinics in Tamarindo – MY fever a day after that, when I spent the night in bed, shivering AND burning up – A sore throat that felt like swallowing jagged pieces of glass every time I tried to eat (or breathe)
Why are those things not pictured? Because it is natural to want to share our positives, not our negatives. People whip out their phone to take a picture of a beautiful sunset, not of their crying feverish child.
But if you take the lack of pictures of her crying, fussing, and doing other normal baby things, as me somehow trying to construct false reality, you would be naive.
Social media is essentially a photo album with running commentary. No one ever accused a wedding album for being fake, because it did not include a shot of the bride peeing a little bit on her dress, because the damn thing took too long to take off in the bathroom. It’s meant to be pretty. Take it for what it is. If you want REAL, you might have to get away from your screen.
Oh, and here’s proof that my kid does not just smile and coo.
Hugs, SOLO