If you haven’t seen it yet, there are two documentaries (one on Netflix, one on Hulu) about an unfortunate failed music festival – Fyre Festival.
A friend said, “I had chest pain from anxiety watching it.” So many can relate. Doing some event planning for my job, I had nightmares following my viewing. Of course, I’m pregnant, so the intensity of pregnancy dreams didn’t help.
There’s nothing funny about a bunch of people essentially stuck on a remote island with little security, food, or drink. But I couldn’t help but think, you know…
Sometimes parenthood is just a little too close to the Fyre Festival.
Let me start by saying music festivals are awesome. Children are awesome; they are a blessing. But, let’s not be delusional about the reality of what it takes to parent.
When the conception comes along, it seems like the best idea. It’s going to be a loud, energetic party. There is going to be the initial excitement, bodies bumpin’, time off work – it’s the dream. Despite the rumors, you have hope; besides, everyone else is still doing it.
During the planning, it’s all glamour and hype on Instagram. Even in the first couple of hours after arrival, you are riding on endorphins and know this will be everything as promised. But then the day continues, and deep down you know the perception you’ve seen may not be an accurate representation of the operation.
You know this all takes a lot of money – you for sure paid a lot to get to this point already – but you are really unsure by the state of the environment about where the money is actually going. Is there an end to how much more money this will take?
You start to wonder how all of this is going to actually be feasible. No matter how much seems to be done, there are five more messes to clean. There’s no direction, little help, and no end in sight.
You get to the point where you eat cheese sandwiches for lunch. Throw some green lettuce and a tomato on the side and call it a balanced meal.
At this point, you know there has been a lot of fibbing involved. By them, by you to yourself, by you to each other. Sure, it was all in hopes for the best, but honestly – how did you not think through this plumbing situation a little more?
Sometimes there’s a mad rush to be on the first plane out but then you realize you really have no way out. You’re in this together and you have to buckle down and make the best of it.
At bedtime, there’s a mad dash for safety. Some screaming, some crying, some unsure how to simply survive.
And all the mattresses are wet.
After the day is over, you look back and think, why didn’t anyone speak up?! How have we even gotten this far?
So whether you’re in the beginning and loving the beauty of conception or sometimes you have chest pains from anxiety – we’re all in this together and WILL come out on the other side.
