What Does Home Mean to me?
The architecture of our house is straightforward, but the makings which create our home are anything but ordinary. Our home is so much more than rooms and windows held together by boards and beams. It’s the stories and memories, and the hopes and dreams.
It’s the clattering feet of my children on the hardwood. It’s the round table that we gather around every night. It’s the beds that we rest our heads on at night, and the sofa we snuggle up on. It is built on the laughs, cries, hugs, and love that are created within those walls. It’s the time we spend together and the wish that it would last forever, but knowing we are living on borrowed time.
Our home is where we make a living, as well as where we make a life. My husband and I are building brands and forming foundations. We’re creating a financial future for our family. We’re igniting our potential in the in-betweens of our day. We’re working hard for our family, while the kids are at school, all the while missing them, anticipating the moment they come running off the bus.
Exchanging loving eyes between my husband and me as we brush shoulders in the kitchen during the breaks we take from our work. We catch admiring glances from each other that are filled with appreciation and love. A love we share that’s rooted in the journey we’ve taken together. The years we knew before them, during them, and what we have to look forward to after they’ve grown.
I know that the fancier house doesn’t make for a more functional family. I know that the remodeled kitchen isn’t what’s most important. It’s not the new windows that make me see clearer. It’s the foundation we built that forged a home within us that lives well beyond these walls.
The brand of couch or type of marble doesn’t make me marvel at what I have. It’s the safety my children feel knowing they are home wherever we are together. Beyond these walls, within our family. It’s the freedom to show up however they want, and as whomever they want, because they are safe, and they are home.
As much as I cherish these times, I know they are passing. One day my home will not be filled with fluttering footsteps and busybodies. It will be haunted by the memories of what we once had, and how fast they grew. I will be left with mere memories of the daily snuggles and the kisses goodnight. But I can look forward to that home we built, calling them back whenever they want to feel our love.
The round table that we gathered around for dinner each night will hopefully be filled with the spouses and my babies' babies. The fireplace that kept us warm will have a few more stockings surrounding it. The warmth of our love will be enough because it was always enough.
We may live within our house, but we’ve created a home. A home that exists outside of these walls. An abode that will last the test of time, because our time has been spent together. The memories we made in this house are ours forever, and we will cherish them long after this house is no longer our home.
