On a recent trip to Florida, my family stayed at the beach to watch the setting sun. It was a beautiful moment.
As we watched the setting sun, I snapped pictures capturing my kids as they dipped their toes in the water and watched in awe as the sky turned pink.
That night, I posted my favorite picture of the moment on Facebook. Fairly quickly after posting the picture, I received 42 likes and several comments appreciating the beautiful picture, happy memories, and great vacation. Reading the comments made me pause. It was a beautiful picture. And the moment was a beautiful one. We all enjoyed a moment of calm as the sun rested for the day, the ocean silenced, and my children were happy. The calm and beauty of the picture captured the moment. However, it did not capture or reflect the day.
The reality of the day? Five days of sleeping in a different environment and eating and sleeping on a vacation schedule had understandably left my kids a bit off. My typically easygoing and easy to please daughter had been irritable all day.
She was angry the beach was sandy.
She was angry the ocean was salty.
She was angry the sun was warm.
All in all, nothing catastrophic. Life with toddlers can be erratic and nonsensical. Certainly emotional! After all, moments of frustration and irritation and moments of joy and glee typically occur within a five-minute time frame.
As I looked at my Facebook picture and read the comments I reflected again. Was I misleading and falling into the Fakebook trap by choosing to portray the peaceful sunset rather than the full picture of the day’s tantrums on the beach? Was I consciously editing my life? Should I be more “real” and honest?
Maybe.
After some brief more reflection, I realized no. I was being honest. The moment was real.
The gift was seeing that moment and feeling the beauty amongst the chaos.
By capturing the calm amongst the storm, I was not filtering or editing my life. Rather, I was recognizing and cherishing a moment of bliss amongst a difficult day. I was not allowing the difficult moments to define our vacation.
How are you able to identify the precious moments amongst the chaos? Is it wrong to share only the good times with family and friends or on social media?
