I made a pot of coffee, washed out my favorite mug, and wiped the counter top off while I waited for that coffee to brew. When the perking had stopped, I poured the dark, hot, store brand java into the clean mug, shoveled in way too much sugar, sniffed the milk to make sure it was ok, then added enough whole milk to make my morning beverage more like a dessert than a wake up aid.
I gathered a stack of magazines that had been piling up, unread, for months. Although it was mid-August, I was excited about catching up on tips about preparing the perfect Easter dinner, planning this year's garden, organizing my entire house, losing a few pounds, making home made ice cream, selecting a bathing suit that hid the fact that I had not actually lost those pounds yet (perhaps because of the home made ice cream that honestly looked delicious...), and packing contemporary lunches that children will actually eat. These are the promises that the covers of the magazines offered to me. What I found behind those slick, carefully designed front pages was something between disappointing, discouraging, and disgusting to me.
Instead of discovering real life solutions and inspiration, I was reminded about how different my life is from the images and articles in these publications. I started to compare my messy home, overgrown garden, thrift store clothes, and size 16 body with clutter free, show quality rooms, perfectly manicured yards, trendy wardrobes, and pencil thin women with perfect hair, nails, makeup, and smiles.
My first response wasn’t a particularly healthy one. “Why can’t I get it together like the people in the magazines”? “There must be something wrong with me ….”.
That was the beginning of an epiphany. I realized that those people are NOT real. Those are not photographs of real families. They are not candid snapshots. They are carefully designed, staged, scenarios that have been posed, edited, and scripted. I am no more likely to live like the people in those pictures than I am to live like the characters in a movie. My mind was screaming .. “IT’S NOT REAL!!!!” And then, I began to relax a little. I began to accept my REAL life a little more. I realized that genuinely happy kids are a better gauge for my success than the fact that I don’t have a spotless home.
But then I wondered, where DO people go to get realistic ideas about how to cook, clean, organize, and maintain their homes and yards? Where do we find recipes that are likely to be eaten, don’t break the budget, don’t take fancy equipment, and don’t require expensive, exotic ingredients that can’t be found at the local small town grocery store? Where do we find out about family friendly activities that are affordable and fun? Where do we find realistic images of happy, successful people who are doing the best they can and enjoying it?
And that is where the idea for a family friendly, comfortable, realistic website was born. May it inspire you to try new things, share your ideas, relax, and quit competing with ‘perfect’.
Cheers!
Dawn