Home

I know most of the time I'm really light and care-free on the blog, but I want to take it down a notch and let you in on a little secret... My life isn't perfect. Okay, okay. Maybe it wasn't THAT big of a secret! I think sometimes I try too hard to make it appear that it is, but that's almost like telling a lie. My hair isn't always nice, I'm not always smiling, my husband isn't always willing to smile for pictures, and I don't always wear the most fashion-forward clothing (shock and awe, right?), and the biggest secret of all? My house is NOT the amazing place you would think it is. It's not even HALF that! Believe it or not, I don't even actually live in my own house. I live in somebody's basement with no dishwasher, stove, or oven. There's this giant stage where the dining space should be, and when summer changed to fall, sometimes worms leaked into the kitchen from the back door! Not my favorite.

The point I'm trying to make is that even though I've got a few imperfections (and a home with MANY imperfections), I almost feel like my life is perfect. It's an amazing phenomenon, the way so much joy takes up your life alongside pain. I mean, children are perfect proof! Sometimes being a mom is a pain. I mean, you can't even run into the gas station to tell the worker that the gas pump isn't working without lugging the kid in the car seat with you (no, I've never experienced that...), and then your child smiles at you. All that pain, annoyance, frustration, everything. It's all gone, and suddenly nothing else exists but you and that little child with loving eyes and outstretched arms, so full of trust, and so dependent on you, the most beautiful person they have ever seen.

Have you ever had a child look at you like that? The greatest thing is that you don't even have to be a mother to experience this. Even as an aunt to my 31 (and counting) nieces and nephews, I think I've felt this way before. There's no other experience like it in the world. Have you felt it?
You don't have to be perfect to experience a perfect life, full of love, joy, and experiences that teach you and help you grow. Eventually we'll figure everything out, but until then, I'll stick with my wormy basement with the warmest glow I've ever felt.

Home

As a child I believed
I'd always be home.
With the ones who loved me
Wherever I roamed.

Then when I grew up
And moved I found
That it wasn't easy
To imagine family around.

When I married I thought
That warmth would return
But I was surprised to see
The flame didn't burn.

At first it was missing
But as the time passed,
The brilliant warm feeling,
Like magic, was cast.

As the number in my family
Steadily increased,
That warmth grew,
The glow never ceased.

I learned that my thoughts
As a child were right.
Home is where love
Burns its brightest light.

Annnnnnd.... Of course it always helps when you're getting ready to make some Homemade Nutter Butters!