A SPRING EVENING

Since we've been here, I've been peering around corners, taking a good long look at the rooms, and pausing inside a moment in order to assess if this feels like home yet. I've had to be conscious about doing that because otherwise it could all fly by with our heads buried in projects and to-do lists. Even while the house is a mess and we still have so much to do, we can and should enjoy being here together. There is a poster with the Smiths' lyrics, "What I do know is we're here and it's now" and I think I want to get it for the house. It's the kind of reminder I want and need everyday.  

 When I assess, I have been finding that there are little things here and there that give me a flash and a little tingle of excitement because I can see us being a family here and this place feeling like a home - a place that houses our habits and rituals, providing us the space to be joyous and to be together.

In an attempt to enjoy it in the here and now, I decided to slow it down one evening last week. Instead of rushing to put the girls to bed so we could work on projects, I laid out a blanket outside and had ourselves a little picnic outside. We loved it (with Ken's allergies loving it a little less) and it was hard to go back inside. There are many more days like this to come, I told myself