The #HonestSelfie. It’s Not Pretty. It’s Honest.

 

We’ve been away from home for more than a month now, posting travel pictures of our family at famous sites and beautifulbeaches. I sometimes sneak in exhausted travel pictures, but our photos are smiles all around for the most part. That’s what people want to see, right? Grinning kids, happy parents, reveling in the sunshine, exploring a new world.

We’re a week into the first of 10 weeks in England – the first four in a place in the Oxford area fairly far outside of London. I keep trying to capture pictures like we did in France, but there’s no Paris or ocean right now. Our family is slowly adjusting to Dad returning to working full time and away from vacation to the more hum-drum of every day.

I went to the park this afternoon with the kids and took out my camera to take some shots of them playing. We’ve been to this park at least once daily for a week, so it’s lost a bit of shine and I quickly gave up on Kodak moments. In general, their expressions looked like this:

 

In boredom, I began taking selfies of a fun hair style I’ve cultivated over the summer, but found smiling for the camera somewhat artificial. I just didn’t feel like it. So, I went with the feeling, snapping whatever expression conveyed how I felt at the moment, along with some posed photos with the kids. Looking at them later reminded me of those “real home” photos people post or Pinterest fails. You know the ones that let you know you’re normal for having toys strewn across the living room, dirty dishes, and melting frosting? My pictures were a bit like those – my selfies turned into honest selfies.

 

and then when I was being really honest:

In reality, no one can smile for 3 months away from home, no matter how exciting the locale. Some days are boring, rainy, and frustrating. Other days, you miss your friends or think you can’t spend one more minute in a small space with your siblings. Sometimes you miss hearing people speak in your own language or even accent. And then there’s an entire summer without your own bike or scooter. No matter how much we love our kids, our work, or our life, we simply can not enjoy or treasure every moment. Sometimes being in a new and “exciting” country need a bit of #honestselfie to put things into perspective.