In favor of highlight reels

I've seen a lot of articles lately criticizing the Instagramming of parenthood. (No links, but if you know what I'm talking about, you've likely seen some of the same articles.) There's even an account (which I follow) that promotes honesty in Instagramming. No filters, no glossing over the "low" points, just truth in parenthood.

I'm all for reality, don't get me wrong. But I also appreciate the highlight reels. Because I have a lot of days like yesterday, in which I awaken after too little sleep to things like this:

Discovering your kid didn't wipe when she says "ew" while cleaning the poo smear off the upholstery. That's my morning.
— Nicole (@nmb74) January 29, 2015

And you get to the point where too many days like that really take their toll on your morale, if not your sense of humor. So it really helps to have an Instagram full of things like this:

Missed Mommy.

A photo posted by Nicole (@nmb1974) on Jan 26, 2015 at 7:35pm PST

And this:

Somebody likes chocolate mousse.

A photo posted by Nicole (@nmb1974) on Jan 21, 2015 at 7:43pm PST

And this:

The imp admires her handiwork.

A photo posted by Nicole (@nmb1974) on Jan 6, 2015 at 8:39pm PST

Scrolling through my Instagram feed drives home to me, in condensed format, what an amazing life I lead. And some days, we all need that. Especially when we're scrubbing poop off an upholstered cube with a Lysol wipe on 5 hours of sleep.