“In the Event You Think My Life Is Perfect” originally appeared on Real Honest Mom, and was reprinted with permission.
I see comments all the time about how people only show the perfect side of life on social media. I do agree with the sentiment, but I am probably guilty of it too. So in the event you think my life is perfect …
This is my living room right now.
This is my kitchen sink right now.
I have a really outdated bathroom vanity that usually looks worse than this.
I share a bathroom with three boys and I’ll spare you that picture. My long hair often collects on the bathroom floor.
I let my kids do things like this.
I used to work as a news photographer, and I still clearly take pictures that are out of focus.
I am consistently 10-15 minutes late.
We often eat dinner on paper plates to minimize the dishes that pile up in the sink.
We are Dave Ramsey people, but we have gone without a budget for the last month while we have been off our normal schedule.
My oldest son is beautiful and friendly and sweet, and he is disruptive at school.
I haven’t washed my hair in four days.
There is always at least one laundry basket full of unfolded clothes at any given time.
We had chili cheese dogs for dinner last night.
I am winning in a battle of the wills with my oldest, but I hate it and I’m not sure if I’m handling it well. I try hard not to be a yeller. But I yell.
My 16-month-old has only just started sleeping through the night this week.
I don’t have my kids enrolled in any kind of sport or activity.
I let a bag of chicken defrost in the fridge so long it went bad.
I had PMS on Wednesday, and I went straight to the Burger King drive-thru and ordered a Junior Whopper and snarfed it right down.
I spent $100 at Target last week mostly because I was bored. Don’t tell my husband!
I haven’t mopped my floors in at least a month.
I vacuumed yesterday, but it had been at least a month since the last time I did it.
There is no need to call The Health Department, I can assure you that our house won’t be condemned any time soon. I do get caught up on the house stuff, but a friend of mine just said: There is always a cost to being a Supermom. And another one said: You can clean the house all you want when the kids are grown. I do my best, but I don’t try to do it all. Or perfectly.
So as I live and learn, I have decided that it’s OK to leave the dishes for the moments. I have a lot of happy pictures of my kids and I truly believe that it’s because I have finally learned to embrace contentment.
Mom sets the tone in the house, does she not? They are happy and relaxed because I am.
I used to think, I’ll be happy when the kids are older, when we are rich, when the house is clean … That’s just not reality and I don’t want to wait.
We have our health and we have enough. You can shoot me for sharing the happy if you want. Rest assured that life isn’t perfect, but I still have much to celebrate. And I will be taking more pictures!
More from Real Honest Mom:
- How we finally got control of overflowing toys
- What my sons taught me when I taught them household skills
- It’s just a stupid house