My Real Life

Yesterday morning, my kids put their bathing suits on and headed outside. I don’t think they talked to me for 2 hours except to ask for more lemonade, which they drank laying underneath their trampoline.

When the bliss was momentarily interrupted to head inside for a potty break, my not-quite-two-year-old asked to go pee on the potty – and DID! – then the two of them climbed into the crib together with a pile of books.

All morning I thought “This is what that expression ‘being a fly on the wall’ means. I’m just getting to watch them and take it all in.” 

I sat on my daughter’s bed and posted about what a glorious morning we were having.

I no more than hit “post” when my son got up, sat on his sister’s head, then stood up and peed all over the books and the bed.

I almost laughed out loud at the immense irony of the situation.

And to be honest, I wasn’t even mad. Yes, it was ANOTHER load of laundry to do. (I feel like laundry is my never-ending Everest.) And yes, it was a big shift in our otherwise chill morning.

But it was real. It was just as real as what happened three minutes before that. 

I updated the post on facebook to include the head-squashing and pee incident. And friend replied “So the pendulum swung back the other way, huh?”

Yeah, I guess it did.

But really my thought process was “I would never want someone to only see the snapshots of glory. My real life is all over the place. I wouldn’t want anyone to think I’ve got this all figured out. Or that I have my stuff together.”

The reality is that I so do not. I’m all for celebrating in the victories. Because when there is something we’ve been working on, trying at, coming back time and time again, when we get it or or kid gets it there should be a celebration. Ice cream for breakfast. A facebook post. A nap. A 12 minute hot shower all to yourself. A sky writer.

I also all for extending copious amounts of grace. For the minutes, hours, days, or weeks when it just isn’t happening. When you feel like you’re hitting your head against a wall. When you can’t figure out where you went wrong. When you’re sure you got it all right but something still isn’t lining up.

But I refuse to let the hard stuff steal my joy. Even hard days have beautiful spots if you’re looking for them. That’s why there’s so much grace – it helps the beauty shine through.

I do not have it all figured out. My social media snap shot or even a blog post might make someone think that I do. That’s me celebrating victories. That’s me with my skywriter. That’s me pouring myself a well-earned cup of coffee.

That’s me inviting you to do life with me. To celebrate with me. To celebrate your victories. And to extend yourself lots of grace when you need it.

Because, Lord knows, I need it. The celebrations. The grace. The community. I need it all. To help keep moving forward.

Tell me, how do you like to celebrate the victories?

Thanks for doing life with me.