messy pictures from the mamas heart <3

a new series. because life is not aspirational.

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sure you may *have* aspirations, but that's your future life. your *real* life is the tenacious, throbbing heartbeat that calls you forward into the hope of each new, sleep-deprived morning, staking you to the present moment. even as the dishes pile up. even as the dog is barking and the kids are screaming and the emails ding your inbox before you've even had your first morning cup of coffee/tea/bulletproof/matcha.

real life is beautiful and messy and wonderfully chaotic. it's tangible, it's corporeal. it's pudgy skin and stretch marks. it's your baby's warm breath cascading against your face; it's breast milk and vomit and toilet training. it's ecstatic joy, complete exhaustion, unbridled laughter and streaming tears. real life is all the balls balanced in the air at once, then fumbling and spilling on the kitchen floor... and knocking the dog bowl over in the process. real life is a beautiful mess.

the messy pics <3 series is a celebration of not doing it all, all at once. it's a celebration of the authentic life, the one that says i'm good enough as i am. messy pics <3 says that love and joy and heart --and heck, just showing up! -- trumps the facade of having it all together. messy pics <3 honors the mama's heart that seeks to give her best to everyone and everything, and still figure out how to keep some of herself, for herself. it honors the mama’s heart that keeps going even when you feel like you're falling apart, that seeks to find joy in the middle of the mess, in the middle of the laundry, in the middle of the unfinished business, the interrupted conversations, the forgotten dentist appointment, or that thing you used to know so intimately but now is a long lost friend: the shower.

messy pictures from the mamas heart says that a home decorated with hugs, laughter, presence, and open arms trumps the pretense of perfection. Social media is full of manicured, curated moments and spaces. And gah, do we love a beautiful home (!) with all those creamy neutral palettes of swoon-worthy shelfies with nary a misplaced Lego-for-you-to-step-on-in-the-middle-of-the-night in sight. And if that's you? Great. But if it's not? We want to celebrate that, too. Because here's the point: that love is the point. That presence is the point. That motherhood and life and marriage and identity and work and the juggle of it all is a swirling, beautiful, messy mess sometimes. And therein lies its beauty.

welcome to the messy pictures from the mamas heart <3 series. an ongoing, monthly series.