Honey, I'm HOME!

On Sunday March 19, my Aunt and Uncle will be coming for a Sunday dinner. I'm making Lasagna and a salad. I haven't decided on a dessert yet, but there will be one. I haven't had the ability to invite more than 1 other person for dinner in my home in at least a decade, maybe more. We were lacking in space in our old home due to having each room serve us in more than one capacity. There was absolutely no way to move our small table around to accommodate more than 1 other person.

In our living room there were 2 computer desks with computer chairs, filing cabinets, a large coffee table and a couch. The bathroom was both bath and laundry room and our bedroom also served as a place to sleep and cramped into a corner was my art table. I had 2 plastic drawer stacks underneath to house all my materials and a stack of boxes with the other things I use in them. Trying to keep that place neat and clean was an undertaking, yet it felt like home.

Then we bought this place. A home of our own that didn't sit on someone else's property. It is bigger, with a dream kitchen, a utility room for laundry. Three bedrooms, 2 baths and the rooms are big. Clean and uncluttered. A space that I could have the fun of decorating and spending money on to make it home. For 4 months I unpacked, found places to put the things that I need and still have uncluttered surfaces that would be easier to keep clean. I had space and enough income to do what I wanted in it.

After the first round of unpacking was almost completed, I realized I would need a new dining set in order to invite people into my home for a meal. I mentioned that to my Aunt at Christmas time as I was opening her gift to us of a brand new set of dishes for 8 people.. She responded by telling me she would look forward to my acquisition and an invite to have a meal with us on the new dishes she bought.

I said it would be a bit before the invite happened since we had depleted our bank account and needed time to pad it up some. We chuckled and went on with our lives after Christmas. A couple of weeks ago she called me to ask if I was still looking for a dining set because she had one that wouldn't cost me anything if I wanted it.

It's probably 30 years old since it was her Mom's. I love it. It isn't just the fact that I got this for nothing, it's the knowledge that something she treasured because of who it belonged to, has been entrusted to my care. This is not just a dining set, it's proof of how well I am loved. 

The dining set was the last of the more costly things I wanted to help me make my house a home. It wasn't until just a couple of days ago that I realized I was thinking like that. I don't know how it happened but my attitude seems to have been that I wasn't home until this was purchased or that was taken care of. It wasn't something I was even conscious of so I'm not sure what it was that caused the adjustment to my attitude. All I know for sure is that I walked into this house on Tuesday and felt that it was no longer this big empty space that I had to keep filling up, it was HOME.

HOME is not a picture in a House Beautiful magazine. HOME is not someplace where life doesn't happen. HOME is not a place where someone feels they can't put their feet on the coffee table, or spill something on the floor. Today HOME is a place that my husband entered and found his mess exactly where he left it because HOME means having enough mess to feel lived in. HOME was something I lost sight of while trying to make this house feel like HOME.