The "Perfect World" of Bloggery

I went to Girl's Night Out last night with some friends and fellow bloggers and we were discussing how almost everyone's family appears "perfect" on their blog. Surely, even television's most "imperfect" family (pictured left) would have appeared to be living in complete bliss if they had had a blog (well, maybe not, but the important word there is television, they aren't a real family at all.)

I like to think that at the end of the day when you consider everything that happened, it's the positive and funny things that are noteworthy enough to get mentioned, but I also think that blogs have become the daily or weekly equivalent of the Christmas letter or the high school or family reunion. Who mentions their marital counseling in their Christmas letter? Or comes to the high school reunion to report that they've been fired three times in the last year?

The more I think about it, I don't think it's really about painting a perfect picture for the outside world, but about preserving the memories that are really important, the things you WANT to remember. I am NOT anywhere close to perfect. I have some major shortcomings that I am painfully aware of. I'm thankful that my husband doesn't post these things on his blog and I give him the same courtesy. We're married, we're a team, and while a blog is a great way to share things with family and friends, there are some things that should not be hung out there for the world to see. I suppose I could post about Grace hurling herself to the floor in more than one grocery store to scream at the top of her lungs for whatever it was that her little heart desired and we said no to that day or I could talk about Noah being grumpy when teething or Tyler getting in trouble for texting his friends before finishing his homework, but if I forget about these things in time, what's the harm? I'd rather devote MY blog space to remembering the precious moments.

So, to dispel any myths..we are not perfect and neither are our kids, which makes us all PERFECT...for each other. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it! :)