House to home

We love our new house. The quiet streets, the view, the high ceilings, it's just great.

A great favorite of mine is the windows. In Vegas, windows are a joke. It's too hot to ever actually OPEN them, so it is an especial treat to be able to even open the blinds.

In our last house, it heated the house up so much that the blinds never got opened. It was like we lived in a cave.

But now! Our windows are double-paned or something. For whatever reason, the blinds being open just lets in sunshine, and very little heat.

Lookit!

From August 2009

Blinding white light, early in the morning!

From August 2009

It's lovely.

So, we love it here.

But, I am slowly realizing (and emphasis on SLOWLY) that a house's location, square footage or floor plan simply matter little. We can be happy anywhere. :)

When we checked out of our old apartment, I found that I was a wee bit sad to be leaving it behind. Ghetto or not, it was our home for a whole year. It was our shelter, our refuge from the storm. (And please remember, there actually was one snow storm when we lived there...)

Derek and I tried very hard to make it a house to come HOME to. We hung pictures, and arranged furniture. I tried to maintain a house of order. (HA!) We yelled at kids and kissed bumps and bruises. We tucked babies into bed and kissed them good night. We checked and double checked to make sure the door was locked before retiring each night.

We certainly had our days of saying, "Why do we live here again?" when we would find shopping carts on our porch, beer bottles at the playground and litter lining the grass.

But in the end: ghetto-ish, yes, more bugs than we cared for, certainly. But passing the threshold of the outside world, past our front door was our home.

So, when it came time to pack boxes and move on, I was actually sad. Not sad enough to STAY mind you, but still just a tiny bit sentimental. :)

And as I stood for the last time, on the spot in my bedroom where my baby was born, I paused just long enough to give thanks. To have a child, no matter where or how, is to touch on divinity. I was priviledged enough to do it in my home. So to walk away from that place was harder than I expected. It hurt just a little, just enough to remind me to be grateful for all my blessings.

So now, we're striving to create a home again in our new house that we love. We still have to remember to pray, to speak kindly, to tuck our kids into bed (I never forget to do THAT!) and create a home with our new square footage. We're getting there, Our address has changed, our goals have not.

And in the meantime, you, my friend, are always welcome.

From August 2009