What you did see…
Today was St. Nicholas Day and it was the first time we have celebrated this at our home. My kids were so excited as I had let them put their stockings out last night. They have also been anxiously waiting to put up the Christmas tree which was something I had promised we would do today. I posted some pictures of our St. Nicholas day so everyone could see how much fun we had. We did have fun and we made some memories that are sure to last.
What you didn’t see though was the chaos behind the scene.
You didn’t see me trying to stay calm while dealing with several issues like a bad case of vertigo for the second or third day in a row.
You didn’t see how I spent several minutes trying to calm down a temperamental child who was upset because I had not come into the kitchen by 7:00.
You didn’t see how I dripped cool whip all over the floor while making the special Santa Pancakes for breakfast.
You didn’t see the drain that overflowed all over the carpeted bathroom floor.
You didn’t see when I spilled tea all over the freshly mopped floor and all over the fridge I had just wiped out.
You didn’t see when I dropped my lunch in the floor as well.
You didn’t see when my second attempt at lunch was a chocolate Santa.
You didn’t see when the chicken scraps got dumped before I even reached the chicken pen because the handle came off the pail I was carrying.
You didn’t see how close I came to just calling it a day, giving up, and going back to bed.
You didn’t see how DD17 and I worked hard to set up the train set under the tree only to find that the train was missing. (The kids didn’t mind as toy trucks work well on train tracks too.)
You didn’t see how frustrated and aggravated I got because of the slow internet when I had an important matter to take care of.
You didn’t see how I confided in one of my friends about how frustrated and aggravated I was feeling.
You didn’t see how I had to rush to finish dinner because I had an emergency errand to run.
You didn’t see me rush to the hardware store for some plumbing supplies 5 minutes before they closed only to find that they didn’t have what I needed.
You didn’t see me have to drive 30 minutes in the opposite direction to the next nearest hardware store.
You didn’t see how my dinner consisted of a leftover cookie and a Coca-Cola. (I hadn’t had a soda in over a month.)
You didn’t see how long it took to clean up the mess from the backed up drain, the piles of dirty towels I had from cleaning up the mess, or the overflowing sink of dirty dishes because we couldn’t wash anything until the drain was fixed.
What’s important is that my kids didn’t see me frustrated, aggravated, or upset either. They didn’t see me lose my temper over things that happened.
They did see me keep promises even though unexpected disruptions kept occurring. They did see me staying calm and taking care of said disruptions as they came along.
I am human, I make mistakes, I get upset, and things happen that I have no control over. I can’t always control what happens to me but I can control how I react to them. I am not perfect and I don’t ever want anyone to think that I am or that I try to portray my life as being perfect.
When you look at the pictures on social media and you think about how perfect things look just remind yourself that you aren’t seeing the whole picture. You are just seeing one small moment of time. Don’t compare yourself, your family, your house or anything else with what you think you see in someone else’s picture.
Enjoy each moment and make the best of every situation good or bad. Life is so much easier if you do.
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