(Im)Perfect Life

So here are some miscellaneous pictures from recent weeks of relaxed mornings, and beautiful evenings, and swim team (which was very relaxed this season - we skipped a LOT of meets). And Caroline's first "meet" - where she won her heat in the 6 & under kickboard event. Clearly Olympics material. Which brings me to a wonderful conversation I had recently with my good friend KT when she was passing through town. We sat and caught up while the kids sacked out in the other room, and we talked about the challenges around navigating life, marriage, kids, etc. . . . with anything resembling grace and gratitude. We talked about friends from college who had suffered terrible tragedies, the kind of tragedies that make you run and hug your kids til they can't breathe. We talked about a lot of things. And she said something about how you look at Facebook and everyone's lives seem so perfect and you just never know what's going on behind the scenes. And I've certainly read many disclaimers on family blogs like my own, reminding people that one generally puts their best face forward when blogging. You don't see the fight that erupted among the kids following the cute bedhead breakfast shot. Or the sibling that was whining about having to watch his sister swim in her first meet. Or the mom and dad who haven't been the best communicators lately, caught up in their separate "jobs." And yet, for me, when I get distracted here, and start paging back through the months and years, I'm suddenly struck by the sheer blessings of it all. Which just shows that life is messy, and you just gotta hang on to the beautiful parts and love each other through the less attractive parts.