Handle With Care

I bought a wonderful, hand-carved wooden flower in Nassau when we were on our cruise.

The vibrant colors caught my eye as we were walking through the crowded shopping area.

At first, I was unsure how I would even transport it home in my luggage.

Until the woman at the shop showed me that it came apart.

What looked like a solid work of art was actually a fragile collection of pieces, skillfully put together to look like a whole.

The petals, the leaves and even the butterfly and the hummingbird could be detached from the base and wrapped in a bag for safe travels.

I took a picture of it at the shop so I would know how to put it back together when I got home.

Figured it would be easy.

But, when I got home and I started putting it back together, it proved much more difficult than I expected.

Each of the petals had to go back in a certain order, and even then, some of them didn't quite fit in the holes on the base.

It took awhile, but I finally got it.

It looks beautiful in my home.

If you didn't know otherwise, you'd think it's a sturdy piece of art.

Unbreakable even.

But it's not...it's fragile. It needs to be handled with care.

If you bump it, the petals could come falling off in a cascade of hand-painted purple.

Kind of like life.

Especially this time of year.

We only share the colorful, solid pictures of our holiday celebrations.

Post about how wonderful life is, and how grateful we are for the people in it.

And much of that is true.

But there's a side of life that most of us don't show.

A fragile side that is hidden behind a seemingly unbreakable facade.

A side that would surprise our friends, even those who are closest to us.

All of us have one. That's part of being human.

And social media doesn't help.

We see everyone else with their seemingly perfect lives, full of joy and love and happiness.

Trying to compete with each other for the best holiday photos and family fun.

When in reality, if you take away the poised photos, AI-scripted posts and forced smiles, every family has struggles you can't see.

We just don't talk about them.

Maybe we should start.

Maybe instead of posting the best photos of our holidays, we should post more about what's going on behind the scenes.

Or better yet, actually talk about it openly so others around us don't feel so alone.

I'm not talking about airing all of our "dirty laundry" but simply acknowledging that we are human.

Post that imperfect photo where the kids wouldn't sit still.

Talk about how you waited until the last minute to buy gifts and then ran out of wrapping paper so had to use newspaper and painters tape.

Share a story or two about the people you miss the most and how Christmas is just different without them.

Break down the fancy facade a bit so people can see underneath.

Like that wooden flower, we all need to be handled with a bit more care.

And a lot more hugs.

Even if we lose a petal or two in the process.

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