Our family. Staged. A set-up. For the most part, it's what we want the world to see, how we want to remember the occasion--that life was calm, our lives were beautiful. Moments like this do occur. It's absolutely imperative that memories such as this do exist and important we put our best foot forward in public settings. Can you imagine if we didn't care about "appearing" well? But...
This is real life.
A little bit of chaos. Disciplining mother. A lack of cohesion. Still a few pockets of happiness.
And this is...real, real life. Unbecoming, true and chaotic. I have no memory of the seemingly tragic-inducing-facial expression and stance I share with Alixann, the photographer. The photo freezes the undeniable insecure moment. It couldn't have been so bad, if I can't recall it. Yet, real life awful moments are awful. But they pass, and this is what we have to remember. This is why we order the staged photos and hang them on the wall. Because this is what we want life to be. And it is. But only for a moment--for now.
Real life. Brought to you today by the Martinez family.
