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Different Versions
I stumbled across one of those articles that leads you down a rabbit hole of TikTok videos, to Instagram, to Googling what someone is worth.
The viral sensation of the moment happened to be about a Mom. A 50-year-old mom, who has 3 sons in their 20s and a daughter who is 5. She’s a professional photographer who takes beautiful photos of her beautiful family and their beautiful adventures. She posts cutesy videos about still being in love with her high school sweetheart after more than 30 years together and upbeat montages of her grown sons playing with their little sister.
It’s curated to perfection.
It’s a Hallmark move in 90 seconds.
It is a reality so far removed from my own that I can’t help but wonder horrible things, like if her kids actually hate her and if the husband fights with her when the cameras aren’t watching.
The better part of me hopes it’s as fairy-tale-sweet as it looks.
My own mother had me young, 16-ish to be exact. Well, as exact as an “ish” can be. She had two more children over the next 5 years and then, shortly before my 30th birthday, she had her fourth, my littlest half-sister.
Like the picture-perfect-photog-mom, my mother, too, had numerous miscarriages before the “miracle child” arrived — or so she’s said.
