Home

Today I am thinking about the word HOME. Yesterday I was doing my 'fold laundry watch Oprah routine' and her Australian Life Organization Guru was doing some overhaul on some family. ( Is his name Peter Walsh?) Anyway... He was talking about how our homes being an extension of ourselves and when there is clutter and disorder it creates an imbalance in our families and in our souls. So I got to thinking.

When we got to Martinez our apartment was a cement box with a bare mattress, one roll of toilet paper, a bar of soap, and a rose bush. I was in shock. And as I went about trying to furnish the home without making any real investment, because we were sure that we were leaving. I outlined in my mind that a home is a shelter where your basic needs can be met. It became clear quickly that the definition of " basic needs" was not so clear, and another question that I have yet to really answer arose. What is necessity and what is luxury?

Here are some things that I have learned are nice but not necessary. Hot water, washer and dryer, dishwasher ( I still don't have one) climate control, dressers, tvs, couches.... the list goes on.

On the other hand, a bed for everybody in the family, a refrigerator a stove, a toilet that flushes, and a place to bathe are not optional.

Of course as economics allow the definition of shelter expands and luxury becomes necessity. And I say great, if that becomes a possibility. But I have noticed as I get more stuff, I get more stressed and there is more to clean and maintain. I love to watch Home Makeover with crazy haired Ty Pennington. I cry every time I watch him build some beautiful monster house for a woman with five autistic children. I can't help it. But there is a little place within my mother scope that feels bad for the woman who has to keep that whole house up and pay all those utilities. I always hope that since they usually pay off the mortgage, she can afford to get a housekeeper, but still...

Ty's whole premise to the show is to build a home that meets the emotional as well as the physical needs of the family. And how graphic it is to me that our homes really should do that. Oprah's Australian was telling the woman yesterday that if there is laundry all over the house it creates tension and imbalance that translates to the relationships in the home. Do you think that is true? I don't know if I quite believe that, but I do believe that there are some principles that do correlate.

My mother always said, "A place for everything and everything in it's place" I think that what we have and store should have a place not only in our homes but in our lives. It must serve some purpose. Further more I think that same saying is true of our emotional selves. If our emotions don't serve us they should be dealt with and then let go so as not to clutter our souls. negative emotion is like crap in our house that serves no purpose, as time goes on it truly burdens us.

The most important basic need we have as human beings is to love and be loved. Our homes should be refuges of love for ourselves and our children. The infrastructure of manners and respect and connection that can't be seen in our homes, is surely felt and has longer lasting effects than anything temporal. The absence of hot water or modern conveniences may make for a harder life, but over time will build character. However if love lacks character is not built but broken down. What an overwhelming sense of responsibility I feel as the heart of my home to make sure it is filled with love and learning life lessons.

So what is the moral of the story, I don't know. But I think it has something to do with me needing to get off the computer to fill my four walls with loveliness and order so that when my chickens come home they will be ever blessed for living in this humble abode.

By the way, the photo is of my kitchen. I have been promising photos of my house since we moved in, sorry this is a little dark. More to come.. I'm serious this time.