My House

"There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort." -- Jane Austen

I love my house. When I got home tonight after a LONG day in the saltmines, just how much I love it washed over me again. It's not a fancy house, nor is it new. It was my grandmother's house, and that's undoubtedly a big reason why it's so special for me. I love the feeling of connectedness (yeah, I coined a word...sue me) to my family that always surrounds me here.

The house is a rambling old jigsaw made up of three separate parts: two old and one new. The front part of it is the Granny's house of my childhood. There used to be giant pecan trees in the back yard and a set of 5 creosote timber steps that I fell down. I still have the scars on my knees. There was a patio with an old picnic table where, every Easter, my cousins and I would peel dyed eggs we'd collected at the church egg hunt or chocolate bunnies brought to us by the Easter bunny the night before.

The back part of the house, the second old part, was actually built by my great-grandfather. It has heart pine walls, ceilings, and floors. It used to sit in another place, but my grandmother decided that she wanted more space, and she had it moved up and added onto the existing house.

The third part, the new part, connects the two old houses. It has high ceilings and so much white sheet flooring that I can never keep it clean enough.

The house needs a lot of love and work as with any older house, but I can't express how nice it is to be settled somewhere and have a "nest" for my own. I'm a huge nester. I need to piddle and arrange, to tinker and enhance. I wish I were better with tools and things so I could do repairs and big things on my own. Unfortunately, I don't know much about that side of things, and I have to try to enlist the help of others. That drives me crazy. It's hard to admit there are things I just can't do by myself.

Well, I guess that's my ode for the evening. I'm off to my ancient bathroom and then to bed. Tomorrow is Friday; the kids will be wild, and I need rest to stay that crucial one step ahead of them.