I only give you snapshots

A quick snapshot of my life

As I stand at the stove stirring dinner, the late afternoon sunlight flooding the kitchen, and I smile at my children's activities: 

• Elise creates a picture. The digits of pi meander across her page in changing colors and shapes so they look like a slice of pie.  
• Ryan is deep into composing another song, he just finished "Life in the ER" and is now making "Afternoon Computer Time". 
• Ethan dances around the house with the black foam cylinders he reclaimed from the outside garbage can, calling out all the things he is going to make with them.  
• Kirsti fills out a reading log.  She is reading Sea of Monsters, not too shabby for the second grade.
• Joseph and Matthew giggle as they play a game of catch with a bouncy ball.

This snapshot of my children is perfect, beautiful. They are creative, intelligent, wonderful.

It is a true portrait.

But let's shift the camera and take another picture, within moments of the first.

I dump a jar of spagehetti sauce into a pan, surrounded by a kitchen I didn't have time to clean today (and possibly yesterday).

• Elise has left a huge mess of papers and pens all over the table, right before dinner (again).
• Ryan bangs on the piano, the careful set notes now replaced by nonsensical (and loud) noise.
• A villainous laugh escapes from Ethan as he swings his foam cylinder and chases a screaming Kirsti.
• Joseph and Matthew have decided to see which they can break faster with balls: their noses, their legs, or my ceramic pots.

This is another snapshot of my children.  Exasperating, loud, messy.

It is a true portrait.

The Moral?

Funny thing about life...

It isn't a snapshot; a portrayal of life at any given moment can never give the whole story.  Two incompatible portraits, both true.  I wouldn't be lying if I showed you either one.


Some people only display one sort of life's snapshots for others.  Although it is all I see of them, I know better than to assume it is the only type they ever see.

_________________

My beautiful blogger today is East of Eden (her pseudonym and blog name).  I met her of Mormon Mommy Blogs and added her as a friend on twitter (@theatomicmom).  From her love of history to her conservative politics to her adjustment to becoming a stay at home mother, I relate to her very well.  One of those people you meet who seem to be eerily like yourself, just living a very different life somewhere else.