Items That Remind You You’re Living

We all seem to have that one surface, or couple surfaces, in our homes that collect items.  They aren’t always the convenient surfaces, sometimes they are right in the heart of the home.  Have you ever slowed down enough to really look at those surfaces; really look at the items that fall there?

In our house we have 3 entrances to the house.  The mud room has it’s own entrance that feeds into the breakfast nook.  The slider is a direct entry to the nook.  Then there’s the front door.  Until recently, the front door hasn’t been used too much.

Due to two entries landing at the breakfast table, I’ve started noticing the signs of life that get dropped there.  Not that there isn’t a far more convenient surface 2.5 feet from the breakfast table, but somehow the table being the heart of the home seems to collect the most life.  This morning I came back from dropping Broken Girl off for her classes and I found: My cup of cold coffee, my charging computer, essential oils the girls used last night, Welding Boy’s 2 flip knives, Blue Girl’s whistles from yesterday’s field trip, and Movie Boy’s latest movie script that I’m not “allowed” to read until it is perfect.  A script I had to move to his creative desk so I wouldn’t be tempted to peek at it.

Any more than 6 months ago they would have been yelled at to clear the surface or lose the items.  However, after all the changes we’ve gone through, I see them as signs that life goes on even after the darkest of times.  They are reminders that we are setting up our own life, we are trudging forward, we are all finding ourselves instead of living in a mold created for us, and mandated that we occupy.  We are finding our personal freedom.  Each of my kids is uniquely different from the others.  The collections I find on the table remind me of their needs, interests, stages in life, strengths, and creativity.

In this house, being uniquely you has come to the forefront.  For too long being “perfect” was the only option we were given.  That is a lot of pressure for us creative types to carry.  We need to be valued the way we are, we need to express our creativity and independence in unique ways, we need open doors, and leave them open, for our passions in life to find us.  It is from this atmosphere, where uniqueness and creativity thrive that we learn to not care what the rest of the world says.  Its where we learn to march to our own drums, and if anybody doesn’t like it or can’t value it…. they can go find a new drum.