Enough of a Home

Let's talk about my house.

You know those people whose homes never seem to reflect on the fact that they have a kid or five? You walk into the living room and the only evidence that a child lives there at all is a simple little neat box (probably from IKEA) with toys in it tucked away over in a corner.  Oh, and maybe a few photos on the fridge.  But other than that, all of the public spaces in the house seem to belong to the adults still.  The bathtub doesn't have a couple dozen toys in and around it, and there are no dirty baby-sized dishes by the sink.

Well, it has finally occurred to me that we are not those people.  And the funny thing is....I LIKE those people.  I always wanted to be one of those people.  And now, the fact that I even thought I could ever be that neat strikes me as quite funny.

We are more the baby socks on the floor, highchair with a dirty bib on it still in the middle of the living room, and hey-let's-use-the-brightly-colored-playpen-as-a-barrier-around-the-fireplace kind of people.  (And while we're at it...why don't we use said barrier as the perfect place to dry all of those diapers and any other laundry that won't dry by itself outside during this rainy, rainy winter?) Which shouldn't really be surprising for a couple of people who painted their kitchen bright green simply because it would match a drawing we made (ahem...Toff).

Oh look, Toff is baking!  Back when a bag of flour came in 1 pound units....not 25 pound.

These stickers are my contribution to 'art' in our kitchen.

Or the same couple who could honestly tell you that their favorite piece of art in their living room in a 3x5 foot (yes, you heard that correctly, I said 3x5 FOOT not 3x5 inch) poster of a Mack Truck named 'Big Louis' they found in their shed (...aaaa haahahaha, that is so totally me, but I do love Big Louis...I so totally do!)

Hi Big Louis.  I love you.

I will admit that this house drives me a little bit crazy sometimes.  The bathroom needs redoing - someone, somewhere along the line decided that they would paint the tiles.  Which, in case you had the notion that you might like to do this - is a bad, BAD, idea.  First, it looks horrible.  Second, tiles are made with color already in them for a reason.  And the walls in the rest of the house are exposed brick, which means there are about 31123898019834323 million crevices for dirt, dust, and spiders to weasel their way into.  And with a baby ready to take off on his own adorable little feet any day now, poses quite a large "ow!" risk factor.  And while we do have a rumpass room on the back of the house, the metal sides it was made of offer little to no insulation, which means in the winter we lose an entire room of our house.  Making our living room have to serve far too many purposes at once, with not really enough room to do any of them well enough without creating a really awkward, cluttered space.  

 One day we hope to tear this house down and build something new and shiny in its place.  Mostly because this house is old and is getting to the point where continuing to fix it will just cost more than simply building a new one.  But also because Toff should have been an architect and his favorite down time activity is seriously drawing up house plans.  

But...

But then I remember.  This house hasn't been home for just us.  This house has been home for eight other people in the past three years.  People from literally all over the globe have all had a place here.  America, Argentina, Italy, and yes....even Australia.  It even has a nickname - IHOP, the International House of People.  (I know a lot of people who have names for their cars, but who else do you know that has a name for their house?)  

Most of the cast of IHOP

It is the home we got married in.  It is the home we lived in when we first felt our baby kick and whose floors I paced when I was trying to decide whether or not I really was having contractions.  It is the home I fell in love with our baby in. And it will be the home whose floors see our babies first independent footsteps.  And should we have any more kids, it will probably see their first footsteps too.  And first bruises and first tears, and whose walls will absorb their first words.    

Hi Baby.  I love you too.  Almost as much as I love Big Louis.  (Just kidding! HA just kidding....)  

 And I think of all of those things, and I just smile.  Because this house is our home, imperfections and all.  It may not be clean and it may have two AC units in the wall of the living room because the old one never got taken out, and it may have pictures hanging in really weird places because I simply hang them on any screw I can find that is already drilled into the bricks, but it is our home.  And that is enough for me.