Friday, June 25, 2010

house vs. home.

We all dream about our dream house....

I remember building my Barbie's house...everything had to be set up just right. I would even have cleaning days for my Barbie's house.  My mamaw told me once that she didn't think anyone had a cleaner Barbie house than me. As I grew up, I began to notice houses that I liked. I have tons of ideas about what I want when we build our first house. My husband told me to start a folder of ideas. Since we have rented a couple places, we have saw a lot of ideas we like and don't like. We constantly see ads about the latest ideas for our houses. I imagine the picture perfect house, everything in the house has it's own place, there isn't a speck of dirt, plus we have a room for everything even the dog, I know the colors I want, I could go on and on. Then I look at where we live right now...it is clean even the baseboards (because I grew up with Bob Saget as a dad), toys are spread out in every room, the mail is laying on the kitchen table, the high chair is in the living room, finger prints on the door I just cleaned....but it is our home. See I think we have been focusing so much on having a house that we haven't made it a home. I have been in houses where children live, but I see no signs that they live there....the house is perfect though. I don't even want to sit down because it seems too perfect. I am guilty of picking up toys as Mason plays. I am guilty of nagging at my husband for not picking up his stuff. I worry about Mason making a mess as he eats. I could wipe the glass doors down every hour so there isn't any fingerprints....until I heard a friend say...those fingerprints wouldn't be there, if he wasn't here.

At that moment, I wanted to take Mason's little dirty hands and touch everything in the house. (Don't get me wrong children do not need the okay to just destroy the house) I began to think though how our focus has become to have the perfect house, but we are missing making it a home. When we first moved to Kansas, we had a beautiful house...everything had it's place, but it was way more of a house than we needed....our master bathroom was bigger than most people's living room....but we have moved since then to a smaller place. This place has taught me a lot. I see how much stuff we have that we don't need. Moving has made me realize that it's not about the structure, but what's in the structure....the family, the love, the moments together.....see if you took away your "house" would you still have a "home?"

1 comment:

  1. I LOVE IT!!! I too am a total believer in that your house is your home.. Therefore, your children have the rights to the living room as well. As you know, my whole house has toys in every room. I once had a friend, who is now no longer part of my life, tell me that I needed to clean out toys in the living room, because I needed "my space." I was like, woa!!!... This is my children's home as well, and I feel that their stuff has a right just as much as mine. Needless to say, she has yet found the urge to have children. Maybe this is a good thing:)

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