The other day I flicked through a number of the photos I've put up on Facebook (non blog). Virtually all of them are about family activities and, if these were all you knew of our family, you'd have an insanely distorted image of what our life is normally like. Facebook would have you think everyone is smiling, the house is generally clean, and the kids are well behaved. This is not the typical reality in a home of three children. Ever.
Let's start with eating out. A while back, I posted about a lovely dinner Sumie and I enjoyed.
We were celebrating Sumie's birthday at a French restaurant in SF. We talked and ate in peace and quiet for almost three hours.
This is not the typical reality. 99% of the time when we go out to eat our seating area is littered with burp cloths, random toys, and mystery silverware that is used to attack the table.
Additionally, all napkins will be ripped to shreds or used to build craft projects. These generally involve even more mysterious silverware that has probably dropped on the floor, bread plates, and drinks, now filled with shredded napkins, that are certain to spill.
Another topic I often post about is our Cars and Coffee outings. Most of these pictures show beautiful cars with at least one of my kids posing in front.
In this one, we see the two oldest taking pride in the car they came in, smiling, and looking forward to a car-based outing with their Papa.
While the kids do enjoy going out with their papa, and while they are generally fascinated by cars, the reality, once again, is rather different. As we walk around, Kuri insists on naming each car with a random series of numbers. Me: "That's a Lotus Esprit." Kuri: "No! That's a Boxster 4921T!"Kuri also has the stamina of and exhausted Homer Simpson. Halfway through the parking lot he tends to get tired, even if he's just devoured a delicious monster cookie.
Additionally, the appreciation of cars still has a long way to go. Here we are in front of a gorgeous, rare Ford GT. Kuri claims it's a Camaro and Mimi responds with faceplant. This is the norm.
The greatest divergence from reality comes with pictures of home life. Take the two below as an example. Here we have Christopher quietly and sweetly enjoying a vintage game of Astro Wars...
...and even more adorable, we have Mari playing happily on the living room floor as her big sister reads contentedly, bundled up on the rug. The only thing missing is a fire in the fireplace.
But the reality is quite different. While Mari is generally mild-mannered, her brother and sister can turn a clean room into a complete disaster in seven seconds flat. Christopher is particularly good at taking artwork, particularly pieces his sister is proud of, and sitting on them. Which, despite the rare occurrence below, generally does not result in smiles.
And while Kuri and Mimi do play well together, many of their games begin well but end in "Mimi pushed me!" or "Kuri wrote all over my picture!" As we can see by Mimi's face in the photo below, this game of "hospital," with Kuri playing the doctor, is about to take a most-likely violent turn.
Yes, the reality generally isn't that pretty. But despite all the challenges, and the reality taking up 99% of the time outside of what Facebook photos reflect, the picture of our family in my mind's eye is still closest to this:
Hope everyone reading this has a peaceful and happy holiday!
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