Home Is Where My Heart Is

I am thankful for home. I love its warmth and serenity. I love how everywhere you look, you see a reflection of what - and whom - we love. It is not a museum, or even a showplace, but it is our comfortable refuge from the outside world. I like it best when it is tidy...even better when it is really clean as well. Most of the time, however, it is more of one and less of the other...C'est la vie!...

Most people who work at home say they have trouble focusing on their work because there are too many distractions. I have exactly the opposite problem. Because I work here, my work is always here...I live in the midst of it. So, the hard part for me is to see my home not as my workplace, but as refuge from it. It's a sad but true part of being a daycare provider that custodial chores are part of my job description. Dirty dishes are not something I can leave until I get home from work...they are my work. As a result, I begin to see my home as one big "project" on which I am constantly working. Everywhere I look, I see reminders of things that remain unfinished!

Although it is very convenient to be able to get a head start on dinner, or toss in a load of laundry because I am here where I can do it, there are just as many chores that are as impossible for me to attend to during the course of a daycare day as they would be for anyone.

On this long weekend, I have indulged myself in doing decidedly un-work-like activities, such as sleeping late and refraining from hair product or makeup. Although I have worked diligently as well, it was on household things that I simply can't accomplish when my little daycare friends are here. I don't mind being busy on domestic pursuits...especially ones that are not part of my workaday life. Working on things at home strengthens my connection to it.

I adore just being at home. I love cooking, straightening up, playing with my kitties, spending time with Scott...especially when I don't feel there are other things I should be doing instead. This long weekend has really reinforced just how much of a homebody I am!

I feel sorry for those who don't feel a real connection to their home. Maybe they never had one, and that is sadder still. My home of origin was busy and "lived-in" at times, and a peaceful sanctuary at others. It too reflected the things that were important to those who lived there...there were just a lot more of them!

I know the quality of a home is not valued by how much it is appraised for, but by the quality of the lives that are nurtured within its walls. Nancy Reagan expressed this sentiment when she said, "I have been very happy with my homes, but homes really are no more than the people who live in them.”

I am thankful for my home. I am delighted that Scott and I have made such a comfortable nest for ourselves...that is one of my proudest achievements! I know that wherever we are, we have what it takes to build ourselves a home to house our happy life together!

“Home, the spot of earth supremely blest, A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest.” - Robert Montgomery