I wouldn't call it an outright lie but my postings on Facebook do not exactly reflect the reality of my life. They do, however, reflect an idealized version of my life - if you have your beer goggles on and use your imagination.
Food Pictures
Take this picture that I posted on Facebook, for example. I made this Spiral Vegetable Tart all by myself (and then photographed the hell out of it before I let anyone have a bite). That is the truth. And then I shredded the recipe and drove my SUV over the pan in the driveway so I'd never have to suffer through making it again. All those damned parboiled strips of vegetables. They were all over the kitchen and the floor. Damned thing took forever to assemble.
But the veggie tart actually tasted good and I have been asked by various family members to make it again. Which I did, only without the spiraling part. Tasted just as good but I didn't post this picture on Facebook.
My Garden and Plants
You'd think from the pictures I post on Facebook that I have such a green thumb!
Not so! That one plant is still alive but for my other plants, the reality is less impressive unless you are impressed by plants that are largely denuded.
Photos of Me
Ha! You won't see many of these because I don't like looking my age. So I post photos of my dog instead.
Family Vacations
I can always manage to find a few pictures of my family enjoying a vacation while avoiding posting the pictures of jet-lagged children whining about being dragged to see yet another museum full of boring paintings. But you won't see on my Facebook page any of the hotels that I booked without doing adequate research (because I was too busy coiling vegetables into Dante's Inferno tarts).
And you won't see any postings from me on Facebook showing the hotel beach with the barbed wire fences running the length of the property down to the water. That kinda kills the relaxing beach vibe.
You'll just see photos of the time I got it right.
Pearls of Wisdom
Pearls of Wisdom I can post with wild abandon! Save the [some good thing]! Stop the [some bad thing]! Do something today that your future self will thank you for! I don't even know what that means. Yet another lie, most likely, as I may not always take my own advice. I may do nothing today that my future self will thank me for unless my future self thanks me for the yummy wine that I enjoyed tonight that reduced my stress today.
Cute Pet Photos
My handsome black lab doesn't have to do anything to look terrific on Facebook but I have a compulsion to somehow make the photos funnier so I hang signs around his neck as if he is thinking what it says on the sign. Amuses the hell out of me. But it's a lie. He's not a thinker. He's an eater.
So as of right now, I am vowing to reform and be more HONEST on Facebook.
Here we go: This is a picture of me in my new bikini!
Ooops! No no no. That's a dessert I made.
OK. I bought it.
Nevermind!
Photos courtesy of the author.