Last Mother’s Day, my husband made a comment that has really been bugging me.
We had a typical Mother’s Day, spent at church and then lunch with family, and afterwards trying to get a “good picture”. Checking Facebook in the afternoon and seeing hundreds of beautiful moms and Mother’s Day wishes, then coming home to do chores.
After we were home and got the kids in bed, my sweet husband was doing laundry and as he walked past me to put up a load of clothes, he stopped and looked at me.
He said “Hey. You know I love you, right?”
I grinned and said, “Yes.”
“OK. Well I think you’re a great mother. Should I put a Mother’s Day post on Facebook? Or is it OK if I just tell you?”
I laughed and said, “Yes, I mean, you are doing laundry at 10 p.m. That says I love you better than any Facebook post ever could.”
But, man. His playful comment got me thinking.
Facebook can be great. But sometimes I think it can also be doing a disservice to our relationships.
Instead of real life expressions of love, we focus on what it can look like in the Facebook world. On if our pictures are up to par. Or if our posts will get us likes.
So to my husband, and anyone else out there wondering if their non-Facebook expressions of love are good enough, let me just say:
THEY ARE.
I know you love me because you do laundry.
I know you love me because you completely love our kids.
I know you love me because you return my oversized hugs.
I know you love me because you listen (or pretend to listen) to my boring stay-at-home mom stories.
I know you love me because you sometimes call me while you’re at work just to say hi and see how my day is.
I know you love me because you work really, really hard to support our family.
I know you love me because you have sacrificed buying nice things or going on fun trips so that I can be a stay-at-home mom.
I know you love me because you tell me you love me. Not just with words, but also with action.
I don’t need a Facebook post from you for me to feel loved.
I feel it because you show it.
Here is a non-filtered, bad-lighting, non-perfect picture of my family on Mother’s Day. If you’re like me, then you probably took 18 pictures trying to get the “perfect” one. But I don’t want to remember perfect. I want to remember real.
And this is real.
This post originally appeared on My House Full of Boys
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