Wife. Mom. Boss. Mess.

Wife. Mom. Boss. Mess.

This picture.  This you guys captures my life, my family and the truth of being a mom, being an entrepreneur and trying to “do it all”!

You know that is a myth, because behind every story, behind every pretty photo and behind it all, are messy things, be it stories, situations, daily grinds and challenges that are minute and of course big life challenges.   If you have gotten to know me or my message, it is all about not “doing it all”, in fact, I don’t believe in that (we don’t do it all without breaking a sweat or having a break down)—the truth is in the messy, in the real real, and allowing ourselves to share those truths as moms, as women and as leaders.  

I LOVE this picture because it perfectly captures the real real.  

Let me bring you back.  This photo is from a photo shoot for Living HIPP; we wanted to capture a few with me and my three kids (notice oldest son is not in the picture nor was he at the shoot because he could not miss football practice).   Can we photoshop him in?  That never happened.

We were doing some pictures in my backyard, and my youngest son Colby was throwing the ball around, dressed in his sports clothes, and would not get dressed for the photo shoot.  I remember saying, “Colby, please take a shower, you need to look handsome for me, please”!  Colby did not shower, and less than five minutes before he was on camera, he ran to his bedroom and put on his “nice clothes”!   He slid in last minute all dressed and ready to go, my daughter and I work like, "c’mon Colby, really"?

While it was the usual chaos behind the scenes, what is so great is that it captures us. Look closely, his shirt is not buttoned correctly and is a complete mess!  It makes me laugh, and laugh really hard, as I am smiling at him, and thinking “you little _____,” and not knowing that his shirt is a mess, which is the brilliant example of how things really roll in our beautiful and messy lives.  This picture is gold to me.  Why?  Because it is me.  It shows the truth of my life, the moments and details I miss as an overwhelmed (crazy) mom.  It captures my kids, the humor, the story of a girl that walks the line (big sister) and her younger brothers that jump over the line, the playing, the wrestling, getting sweaty, and challenging me.  

The look on my face here is love, it is laughter, and it is us.  This is us.  

My story is that of being a Wife, A Mom, A Boss & a passionate soul that has learned how to embrace the mess along with the simple joys of life.

There is not enough hair, makeup and lighting to cover up the truth of how we live, and when we allow that story to be told, and we find that humor, it turns a picture into a story, and this story is mine.   My girlfriend saw this pic recently and reached out laughing because she knows my boy so well, she knows me, she knows us, and we both laughed at the spirit of it, the truth in it, and how it truly captures the real real.  

XO