Monday, August 15, 2016

The Reality of Social Media

Recently, I have had many conversations with friends about social media and our perception of people. I'm sure we all know that we portray our absolute best on social media, and no one ever knows the truth behind the perfect photos. Don't get me wrong, I love social media and how it allows me to keep up with people (something I am terrible at), and get a peek into other's lives, but it has it's disadvantages too. 

Something that I have always struggled with is the comparison game. I struggled with it growing up, especially in high school and college, and now I can sometimes struggle with it when it comes to marriages and how some people seem to just have everything together. I have to constantly remind myself not to compare and to focus on my family and what we have. 

Having had this conversation with people a lot recently, my Friday afternoon/evening left me laughing when I really wanted to cry. Ok, maybe I didn't really want to cry, but I was super disappointed with how it played out. 

Here's a little comparison of what I posted on social media for our Friday, and how it actually turned out! 

Ben was out of town last week from Wednesday morning until super late on Friday night, so we filled our time with a lot of activities to keep us busy. I planned on taking Henley to the water park again on Friday afternoon after her nap. It was the last day for the park to be open and since it was open until 8, I thought it would be a great way to spend the afternoon/evening. 


I packed a cooler for dinner and after Henley woke up, we loaded up the car and left the house at 4:30. We hit up Sonic for a drink for me and ice for Henley (her very favorite), and then hit the road. I posted this picture as we were leaving Sonic. 

The water park is about 15 minutes from where we were, so we should have gotten there around 5. Things went down hill fast! We got on the highway and immediately hit traffic. It was at least moving for a little while, but it quickly turned to a standstill and the clock was ticking. I also checked the weather before we left the house and it showed that no storms would be rolling into Lewisville (where the water park is) until 9, so I was staying hopeful that we would still get some good time on the slides and in the water. The clock kept ticking...we were in traffic for over an hour. Thankfully we were far enough behind the wreck that shut down the highway that we eventually got to exit and go around it. After that we made it to the park in 10 minutes. Hallelujah! 

We finally got there around 6...you can imagine how happy my 20 month old was to be in the car for over an hour. We paid our $3, changed Henley into her bathing suit, and hit the kiddie pool. Henley made it down her favorite slide twice before the lifeguards blew the whistle and we all had to get out on account of the thunder and lightening. Remember how I checked the weather?! Well, it was wrong! Henley sobbed! 

I distracted her with dinner, hoping that once we were finished, the 30 minutes would have passed and we could get back in. Wishful thinking, Natalie! We spent the rest of the evening (yes I waited there until 7:15, hoping that the storms would pass before closing), playing with the buckets I brought on the concrete and playing peek-a-boo behind a pole! 

Henley kept trying to inch closer and closer to the water! 

I finally came to terms with the fact that we were never going to be able to get back in the water, so we left the park and walked across the street to the playground to play for a little while. Henley was more than excited to get to go down some slides! We played for about 30 minutes before it started raining and lightning again, so we loaded up the car and headed for some ice cream. 


This is how we finished up our night, with frozen yogurt and lots and lots of sprinkles!! 

Thankfully, with our Friday night to the water park being a total disaster, we were able to go to the bigger water park in Denton on Sunday with daddy. Henley was thrilled to have Ben there to watch her go down the slides and she even watched Ben and I go down the big slides for a while and had a blast! She loved the lazy river with the tubes that she could sit in all by herself, and she could not get enough of jumping off the side of the indoor pool to Ben. Our Friday was redeemed!! 




Just in case you ever catch yourself thinking, "man she has it all together," or "wow they always seem to be having fun," let me just assure you that I DO NOT HAVE IT ALL TOGETHER. I am pretty much a hot mess 90% of the time. While I will say that Henley is such an easy baby/toddler and I just adore her sweet disposition, she also totally wears me out sometimes and can be all over the place. She is a toddler, so we have our good and bad days! Also, while I love my husband very much, we have had our fair share of issues and are open books about them.We don't get enough time together just he and I, and we definitely need to work on that. 

I just thought I'd ease your mind in case you've ever put me on a pedestal...I'm not sure why you would, but you can go ahead and take me down! 









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