Troy and I are suckers for old houses, which explains why we hastily bought our own Victorian beauty without looking once at anything else in the neighborhood. Lately, however, we've found her "quirks" to be less than charming. It's been one thing after another and I'm ashamed to admit that my eyes and heart have wandered, have gazed lustily upon the up and coming subdivisions boasting street after street of newly constructed masterpieces featuring whirlpool tubs, walk-in closets, granite counter tops. "Our lives would be better," I convince myself, "Not only better, but safer and perfectly perfect, if only..."
Late last night I came back from the grocery store and from the garage saw the golden glow of our kitchen, all warm and welcoming. Just beyond that creaking screen door were the remnants of a meal shared with my very favorite people in the whole wide world. Just up the stairs and around the corner, there were books being read and kisses exchanged. Just inside those cracked and plaster covered walls was my firecracker of a family: a gift worth more, so much more, than the time I've been wasting on pining for luxuriousness, for ease - for an illusion.
24th anniversary
4 weeks ago
6 comments:
I know just what you mean. Every month or so, we receive a World Vision newsletter (I think it's an international organisation - child sponsorship and community development etc.) and it always reminds me that despite living in a very small, old, cracked, crooked house in a cheap suburb, my family is actually extremely wealthy. I see photos of young widows with several small children living in one-room shacks by mosquito-infested rivers in Bangladesh, or orphaned children living in a mud hut with not a tree in sight, in a dusty African village, where they walk an hour each way for a bucket of water. Yet I still complain about my own house. I am such a whinger, Lord have mercy.
Oh Molly i so hear what you are saying. Sometimes i long for the clean, new house with a whirlpool tub:-) especially when i am at houses like that but then i return home to my old house full of charm and i LOVE IT. I grew up in an old house and i have always loved old houses.
Funny that these "NEW" houses we long for sometimes are built so cheaply...they have more problems then old houses sometimes.
I watched "It's A Wonderful Life" in its entirety yesterday for the first time, and your words today echo the lesson George learned. "The richest man in town" lived in a pretty old house too. :)
We can totally relate to you! We've bought a fixer-upper, as I know you know, and it is always a challenge as time that could be spent doing other things, is spent fixing and renovating. But after the work is done, I love that feeling that you put so much time and effort into it. It just makes the house feel so much more like home! And it's nice to that if a few scratches get on the walls or on the the doors, it's not the end of the world!
Having just sold our beloved 75 year old home with all the charm to squeeze into half the size aptartment has made me more appreciative of the "quirks" that nagged me so. You are right...your family is all that matters and the house wraps all of you up in one well-loved package :)
Looking forward to your book...
Happy New Year!
Awww, I needed that! Thank you!!
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