the way i see it

so a dear friend was hanging out with us the other night and he asked why i stopped doing the 'motherhood they way i'm seeing it' photo project. as we were sitting there in our living room i pointed to the big laundry pile, sans children you see below, and said, "i've been uninspired." he encouraged me that even that pile is part of it. yes yes yes i know, friend. so i told him i would revisit motherhood the way i'm seeing it for mothers day. over on flickr, the comments that i received really encouraged me...that i truly am not alone in the vicious laundry cycle. those things that get out of hand. that big pile that makes me scream, "we have TOO MANY CLOTHES!!!!" those things that cause me to feel like i can't just sit and enjoy being. just relax. not that i follow that feeling all the time, i do sit and simply enjoy, i let those piles wait [as you can see] and i do let the dust collect or mud stains remain on the floor. i do.

motherhood the way i'm seeing it looks different everyday. some days we leave the house so i don't feel guilty about the way i keep house [or don't] for my family. don't get me wrong, if you know me at all, you know these things don't produce very much guilt at all, but even the sliver can fester. so we leave. go to the beach or ride our bikes or just sit in the hammock outside the front door. the way i'm seeing it here [in photo below], in my opinion, is much more inspiring, if inspiring at all, than photo above. my girl sitting playing polly pockets with me as i lay reading the complete idiots guide to bike repair and maintenance watching the other girls swim and play together all afternoon beneath the redwoods and blue sky. that contains a bit more of a sunny disposition than a heaping pile of laundry. i prefer a sunny disposition.but my life consists of both and i desire to find the beauty in both. it is easy to think, from looking at photos over on flickr, that everyone [else] has a perfectly well kept home. are eating nutritious meals: breakfast lunch and dinner. the children are always happy and playing blissfully together frolicking in a meadow of wildflowers everyday. that's not real life. that's not the truth of it all. i don't think people are trying to claim that as truth [usually]. SO, i have decided upon a new photo project. i am calling it 'every other'. if i actually do it every other day that's not the point. the point is to just focus on both aspects of my life....the messy and the kept. the order and chaos. share them every other. the end.
PS. thanks non commenting friend, you know who you are, for inspiring me to do something, anything, again, even if you didn't know you were inspiring me. see you next time.