Gratitude Day #17
Today I am grateful for my beautiful home.
I am also grateful for my house; for they are not the same thing.
From the time I was born, I have had a good home to live in. My parents made sure of that. They were absolutely not fancy houses. At one point in my life I lived in a log cabin that is still standing. It did have running water, but no indoor toilet. Lots of good memories come from my time growing up there. It was in that log cabin that I first learned of my musical talent. I'll write a post about that in a few days.
The house I spent the majority of my childhood in was also not very fancy. It was smaller, but there was just my parents and me. So, we didn't need much space.
After a few years, my dad decided he wanted to make that home bigger, so we added a big addition to it that included a great room, a fireplace (the first one he had ever built), and a walk-in closet. It was the first place where we had wall-to-wall carpeting, and I can remember my mom laying down on it and rolling from one end to the other. It was beautiful.
Then, as a married woman, Mr. Kerry brought me into his place - a condominium in the suburbs of Washington DC. His father had advised his children to get into home ownership as soon as possible to build equity. It was exciting in the weeks leading up to our wedding as I moved things from my parents' apartment into his. My first time living there was on our wedding day, and it felt wonderful!
Now, we have lived in our home for 34 years. This is the house we moved to when Peter was five years old, and Erik was just born. (Friends from church moved our belongings while I was in the hospital with him.)
It has sixteen rooms, and sits on 1 1/2 acres. And, it is the most beautiful home in America. If it burned down and all I had was a tent, I would still have a home -- because of the people and feelings within it.
As I mentioned, we have brought babies here, and grandbabies. We have worked, we have played, we have cleaned, we have mowed, Kerry and the kids have climbed trees, and he showed them the heavens. We don't have much light pollution out here in the country, and the nights can be quite dark, and the stars and the moon quite vivid.
We have gathered as we said goodbye to one of those children, too.
Our house sits on a hill, and overlooks a ski resort. Hence, we always have a white Christmas. They began making snow this past week, so the hills are already sparkling white.
My home has been a good home, where we would gather our family around us to shut the world out. Each Monday evening is set aside in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for being with your family, for teaching them, for loving them. Through the world, there are no meetings held. The buildings are closed -- including the Family History Library.
During those evenings, we continually reinforced our love for our children. We didn't answer the phone (unless I could see on caller ID that it was my dad), if someone were to knock at the door, we would have invited them right on in. We taught them to pray. We tried to teach them to love each other. We taught them from the scriptures...and, they taught us. We ate! And, we nestled in away from the things of the world to just be with each other.
Our house has a few scars in it. So does our home. But, in the end there is nothing that can't be fixed.
I am grateful to Mr. Kerry for the years he worked hard to keep a home for his family. There was never any question that this is something he would do. Perhaps this is why I lovingly tease him when he watches the "Wizard of Oz", where Dorothy continually emphasized..."There's no place like home. There's no place like home". Kerry has it memorized.
So, the two of us ramble around in this big house...and, we just love it. Someday we'll leave it. But, until then, there's no place like it.
Anywhere.
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