Even Ballerinas Get the Blues

May 23, 2014

Even Ballerinas Get the Blues

I started following Kelle Hampton's blog Enjoying the Small Things shortly after K was born--I was still in the hospital, in fact. Someone pointed me to it as another story like ours with a happy ending. Hampton's second daughter Nella, who has Down syndrome, is almost exactly a year older than our K. So reading her blog was an especially uplifting glimpse into a future with a new normal that was joy-filled and beautiful. For awhile, I got religious about keeping up with Enjoying. The photographs and writing were both excellent and together they spoke a little hope and a little healing into this mama's heart.

When you're famous in the blogging world like Hampton is (something as foreign to me as Greenland) you have to grow a pretty thick skin. You become vulnerable to all manner of accusations about your parenting, your religious views, and your marriage. Blogger beware! But I never thought that someone could be accused as many times as Hampton has for being "too happy." Yes, that's right. Apparently, some of her readers find her joy unpalatable in the real world. Once, while answering readers' questions, Hampton noted that some readers had observed that photographs tend to capture us at our best rather than at our most real. And doesn't that skew reality? Isn't the representation of a life in photographs a little fake? Hampton's response was perfect. She answered that although we tend to focus on capturing our best moments on "film," sometimes that's just what we need. For her, looking at the images she captures of her young family puts daily trials in perspective. Look how lovely this life is, the pictures tell her. Look how much we can give thanks for. Instead of skewing reality out of focus, photography brings real life into focus.

I agree. I have often found that looking at pictures of our family life brings my perspective into focus again. Raising a young family is physically and emotionally exhausting. At the end of a long day, the smallest annoyance or inconvenience can make me feel like jumping off the precipice of my dying patience. While strangers often comment on my boundless patience with our busy three when we're out and about, I promise you I do not wear that same halo at home. Spring is a particularly chaotic time in our house, one equally full of the excitement of summer's promise and full of the frustrations of having too little time to get over the last few hurdles that will get us there. We've all been feeling happy-blue, full of energized exhaustion, and eager-sad for the changes on our horizon (Fall will bring all our littles to school this year. This mama is a little nostalgic for her babies, even while doing cartwheels for the gift of free time she sees on the horizon.) An occasional exercise in perspective Kelle Hampton-style is valuable for all of us. That said, here is a visual story of the cherishable moments we've enjoyed amidst the seasonal stresses. Consider it the spoonful of sugar...