Miss Mary Sunshine

What face do you show to the rest of the world? I worry, more than I should, about showing only the Miss Mary Sunshine moments of my life and my family to the world, when, in reality, there are a whole lot more Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly moments, the dirty, rotten no good moments when my family is more messy than sunny and more nasty than nice. Take, for example, the past weekend. One of my children is getting married. In this day and age of rampant social media, I wanted to show some of the beautiful photos I took of the event to friends and family who are interested and couldn't be there, or even to friends who aren't close enough to be there but who still take a genuine interest. I wear my heart on my sleeve in general; might as well put it out there, right?

But the fact of the matter is that one of my brood intentionally didn't attend the event because said family member is currently standing in judgement of the bride-to-be because she is also a mama-to-be. Her fiance is a complicated-but-lovely young man who might not have been the judge and jury's first choice, but he is the bride's so really...that's all that matters. Another family member didn't show because she's young and easily influenced and drinking some tainted kool-aid about the bride and groom at the moment. There's a family member whom I once upon a time adored but who has proven herself to be less than adorable, cheating on her own spouse and blaming everyone else for her problems. There's a friend of mine who used to be like a sister who has decided that I no longer fit into her somewhat narrow box of requirements, so I've had to let her go.

But the pictures I've posted have been beautiful, beaming, smiling, and those images are genuine and real. They're just not the whole story. Is it fake in some way to only tell the sunny side, or is that the only side that people want to see anyway? We all have the dark and the light in our lives. Which side do you show the world?