Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Camera Cards, Cosmo, and Cupcakes
I uploaded our spring and summer pictures for a
Shutterfly order this week. Call me old fashioned but I still
like having my pictures developed. I
like something that I can hold and touch and file away in a box. Yeah, for some reason, I don’t think an event is officially
documented until it's in the appropriately marked box.......under my bed.......in chronological order.
Like many times before, I found myself deleting several of the pictures that I was in, for one reason or another.....not the least of which being the fear that, if left on the camera card, the unflattering portrayals could find themselves on a funeral slide show one day and there I’d be……..lying there, unable to do one thing about it and y’all would be thinking……”well, bless her heart”.
Like many times before, I found myself deleting several of the pictures that I was in, for one reason or another.....not the least of which being the fear that, if left on the camera card, the unflattering portrayals could find themselves on a funeral slide show one day and there I’d be……..lying there, unable to do one thing about it and y’all would be thinking……”well, bless her heart”.
I was thinking about how I don’t cut myself very much slack in a lot of areas. I know
I’m not alone in this. We, women, are usually our own worst critic when it
comes to our looks, our work, our parenting, and just about anything else we do. We’re just hard on ourselves.
You know......like when you’re in the grocery store after a long, hard day
and you catch a glimpse of your haggard reflection in the drink cooler door at the checkout…..which
is located right next to the latest issue of Cosmopolitan with Meghan Fox on
the cover, staring right at you with her porcelain skin, three inch eyelashes, voluminous hair being blown by large fans, and perky bosoms standing at attention.....all while your own bosoms are resting comfortably on the handle of your shopping cart.
The only thing that Cosmo could use of mine without a touch up would be my right nostril. It doesn't match the left one so there would need to be some work done there, but the right one.....I think it's sheer perfection. I feel it's one of my best features. I think they'd have to agree.
Or maybe like when you and another mother are assigned cupcakes
for the class party and, invariably, the other mom you're paired with has been on Pinterest twenty-three hours a day as she places her confectionary assorted farm animal
creations fashioned from marshmallows, fruit rollups, mini M&Ms, pretzel
sticks, and dyed coconut….right next to your Funfetti cupcakes that you were feeling
pretty good about just 5 minutes earlier.
Thank goodness Pinterest came along after my children had gotten older because I usually felt pretty accomplished if I could just get the price sticker off of the plastic cupcake container without it leaving a sticky, ugly mess. Nobody would've wanted to pin that.
Why can’t I get myself together and make nutritious, homemade breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for my family every day of the week? Pioneer Woman never uses Hamburger Helper.
Somehow, I’ve not yet figured out how to work and cook on the same day. It’s an either/or thing for me, so Rea's cowboys would likely starve slam to death right out there in the field if they were waiting for me to drive some snacks out to them.
Why can’t we emerge from the maternity ward looking magazine worthy like
Kate Middleton....all bright eyed and clearly without visible edema?
After I had my children, I had no discernible neck and my nose was the size of a Russet potato, so I'm pretty sure that, had I been mother to any heir to the throne, the royals would've slipped me out the back door of the hospital and into a limo with heavily tinted windows just before a press conference explaining a bogus security concern.
Why can’t we get our three kids off to school every
morning and be on TV by 9:00, all gorgeous and witty like Kelly Ripa and
her 95 pound self….who, by the way, blows the whole "your body is never the same after kids”
cover for the rest of us.
Every single morning of my life, I look and sound like Herman Munster until around 11 and can't form a sentence until I've had my lunch, so the only possible morning television role for me would be.....maybe a Teletubby.
In these days of social media facades, photoshopped magazines, 24 hour celebrity news, the raised bar of Pinterest, plastic surgery, and the ever mounting list of what’s expected from a good mother, it’s no wonder that we’re never really content with ourselves.
I
suppose the old saying is true… “The world is much kinder to us than we are”.
I’ve been thinking about those deleted pictures and how I
will never get those moments back again. They were snapshots of a place in time
that is over and gone….and I deleted it. I will never be in that exact spot
with my children at the age they are now, having the same experiences and
laughing about the same things.
I’m not perfect
inside or out, but I want to be more concerned with the things that last and matter and
give myself some slack in the things that really don't. We're surrounded by false, unrealistic, worldly definitions of what makes us beautiful women, good mothers, and successful human beings. They are everywhere we turn!
But we are God's "workmanship"......."fearfully and wonderfully made"......"in His image" and that's all we need to know! What's not beautiful about that? Your personality, your strengths, your body, your talents, your gifts......all designed by God with a purpose in mind. A beautiful and perfect purpose.
Have a beautiful Wednesday!!
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Very true! It seems there are such unrealistic expectations everywhere we look that it's easy to feel discouraged or like you don't measure up. It's a battle to focus on the the things that really matter. Great reminders!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Marie.....we, women, need to encourage each other! It's tough being us :)
DeleteYes! Regular - real - womanhood is deemed unacceptable in our culture. Yet our children view us through the rose colored glasses of security, love and even adoration. Our Lord doesn't require us to be the best only to be faithful. I think we've set the standard so high that we have become slaves to keeping up. We worship human accomplishment and sacrifice humanity of the real sort.
ReplyDeletePS - I'm confident your people will know which photos will elicit a "bless her heart" and keep those private on your final day. They know and love you!
Amen, Missy June! Can't add anything to that, girl! :)
DeleteThanks for the beautiful message, it was just the sort of encouragement I need this morning. It's so easy to lose focus on the things that should matter to me because I'm so caught up in all of the things that I think matter to others. It's exhausting. We are definitely our own worst enemies, and Hollywood/social media certainly aren't helping the cause. Now I may just have to make a (non-Pinterest-inspired) magnet for my fridge that says, "I am on purpose!" :-)
ReplyDeleteHaha........I love it! We spend a lot of time trying to live up to other people's expectations! You're so right about that, Amanda! Hope your magnet turns out good :)
DeleteI know I shouldn't be reading a blog while at school but my high school students are working on the computers so I felt I needed a little break! I was fine until I got to the 'bosoms resting on the handles of the shopping cart' and I just had to LOL! My students responses were, "What? I'm not doing it right?" Little did they know it wasn't about them? Oh my goodness just what I needed this morning! And you brought it all right back around to how our heavenly Father sees us. I loved the comment from MIssy Jane, it was right on target. But honey, you have such a way with words and I will be thinking about your post for the rest of the day! LOL and Thank You!
ReplyDeleteHahaha.....I love this, empty nester mom! Thanks for always encouraging me!
DeleteLove how you ended this post. : )
ReplyDeleteRemember too that you see those people after others have worked on them to make them look perfect. I'd like to see them right out of bed at 6 AM. : )
So true, Happyone! They'd have to work on me a while! :)
DeleteThank you for this post! I've been having this conversation with myself and others this week. You put it perfectly into words!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Denice
Delete