Why I Will Frame This Picture

 

We had family pictures made this past Sunday by the lovely and talented Sue Sizemore at Southern Exposure Photography who is my best friend Adrian's mom. Anyone who knows me or my child knows that this was no easy feat. Tyler Grace is rambunctious, doesn't listen and generally destructive at all times. Don't let that pretty face fool you, she can tear some shit up. We had suffered through 45 minutes of "don't touch that" "put that down" "look over here" "smile pretty" and countless others and then came time to take pictures with Mommy. We let Tyler decide how she wanted to take pictures and the above is one of the first. This picture was actually taken on Adrian's IPhone while Ms. Sue was adjusting the lighting. It instantly became my favorite for multiple reasons.

 

(1) She looks like Grumpy Cat's long lost human sister.

 

(2) This is us. Every day. Those two faces. That's what you get: Tyler Grace being generally disinterested and me looking at her like "what in the hell is wrong with you?"

 

(3) I said in a previous post that I wish I could make our Christmas card one that instead of playing pleasant music when you open it, it's just Tyler Grace screaming for candy before bed. Let you know what's really going on with us.

 

(4) People always portray a picture perfect version of their life on social media. We're all guilty of it and that's okay, but I will not do it in my home.

 

(5) Life is messy and far from perfect, especially if you have children. Let's be honest. This picture perfectly portrays that.

 

I told someone I was going to have this one framed and their response was "Why? The others are prettier." Because... this is our REAL life.

 

So that picture will be the picture proudly displayed on my wall along with this other one... it looks wonderful, but what you don't realize is she climbed up on my shoulders while I wasn't paying attention and that was me mid-sentence saying "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Also, she's trying to lick my forehead because she's weird like that.

 

 

So lesson learned, family picture day is not fun, it's stressful and kids do weird shit that make you question why in the world you ever wanted to be a parent in the first place. But these are my memories of my child being four - her silly faces, her inability to listen and do what she's told, and her using me as her own personal jungle-gym and to me, those are the memories I don't want to forget. Long after the proofs of the perfect pictures are gone, my favorite memories of my four year old will be frozen in time on my wall in plain view for all to see and they are far from perfect.

Sure, I will get some of the "perfect" ones framed too, but these will be front and center and probably displayed in my foyer as you walk in my front door just to let you know "Welcome To The Madhouse."