When he was small, my youngest son had a habit of filling his pockets with treasures he encountered in his daily adventures. I didn't always understand the value he saw in his chosen objects -- really, how many rocks and sticks could one boy keep? In his eyes, though, each one was beautiful and important. Life is just like that on a larger scale, isn't it? We gather up the precious bits of our experiences and save them all to learn from and enjoy later. Perhaps you'll find a little something here that you'd like to keep in your own pockets. Thanks for visiting.

Thursday, November 17, 2016

Right at Home

There are echoes everywhere when one moves houses. The obvious physical ones bounce off of empty walls, growing louder each day as the soft things that make a house a home get tucked away carefully in boxes and bins, erasing at least to the eye most traces of the family who has lived and loved there. They're jarring, these strange new sounds in a long familiar place, but it's the echoes created deep within the hearts of the home's inhabitants that are the most unsettling. Every tissue-wrapped treasure evokes a poignant memory; together they clamour of all the years lived and gone now, and there's an aching realization in the final days of packing that the typical, everyday occurences in that house are suddenly significant last ones. Even when a move is decided upon with joyful excitement, there is room among the echoes for doubt and nervousness, for questions about whether choosing a new home was a good decision, or whether the unknown can offer happiness, too.


Matt and the boys and I have been in our new house for just over six weeks now, and any doubt we felt in those packing weeks has quickly dissipated as we've settled in and made this place our home. The spaces all seem just right for the four of us; we're completely at ease as we move together through the bustling days of enthusiastic family life here. All of us are enjoying experiencing the things we knew we'd love about this place when we bought it, and we're also discovering unexpected and cheerful surprises as we get to know the house and yard and neighbourhood better. Changing schools has been a happy experience for Will; he's made new friends quickly and has joined all kinds of extra-curricular activities already. Noah's found joy in discovering new running routes in this quieter neighbourhood close to a conservation area, and in having space in the basement here to play the drums he bought this fall. It's been exciting for Matt and I to be able to create the home we've long envisioned but couldn't quite achieve due to limitations in our old house. We feel at peace here, among the thoughtfully chosen touches indoors and the beautiful trees outdoors that are a haven for welcome little critters.









It becomes easy, I think, as we get older and more settled, to resist big changes that will require us to upset the comfortable rhythms of our daily lives, even when those changes are wished for deep down. A move seemed to us like an enormous undertaking filled with unknowns (and I won't lie, it's been a huge amount of work!) I remember now, though, that sometimes it's well worth the effort and upheaval to experience the pleasure of seeing life from a brand new perspective. At this house the sun rises gracefully every morning, just as it has at all of the other houses in which we've lived. But having it rise on a different side of the building, where the glowing pink light streams in our kitchen window while we sip warm drinks and munch on toast, has made us stop and take notice of its beauty as if we're seeing it again for the very first time.



15 comments:

  1. I'm guessing glad you're back. Very much enjoy your glimpses of life

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    1. Thanks so much, allieanne. I really appreciate hearing that.

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    2. I wonder why autocorrect changed "so" to"guessing". Sorry for the nonsense!

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    3. I wonder why autocorrect changed "so" to"guessing". Sorry for the nonsense!

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    4. No worries! I understood what you meant, anyway. :) Darn autocorrect, lol!

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  2. It's beautiful and peaceful and reminds me so much of you. Enjoy xo

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    1. Thank you for the lovely compliment, Louise. We will! xo

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  3. Beautiful house! I'm sure Will is missed at St. Matts. Where is this new beautiful home?

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    1. Thank you, Megan! We live up in northwest Waterloo now, in Conservation Meadows. It's actually the same neighbourhood we lived in when the boys were born, so it feels a bit like coming home again. I've heard from a few parents that Will is missed at his old school... but he keeps in touch with his friends from there so he doesn't feel too far removed from them. Luckily he'll see them all again in classes at St. David's in less than two years. :) And he is really enjoying the novelty of a new school experience this year!

      I hope all is well with you and your family.

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  4. So glad to read your blog again. I can really relate to this Lisa because we built a new home this past year. We sold our beloved home in November 2015 and then began building our "retirement home" which will allow us to age in place. We back onto a conservation area where we are thrilled with the sites and sounds of nature including having deer visit us at various times. It is indeed challenging to leave a house which we made a beautiful home but now we are in a new house which is becoming home through the sharing with family and friends. Enjoy each day as together you make wonderful memories.

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    1. So nice to hear from you, Shirley, and I'm glad to know you enjoy reading my writing! It must have been difficult for you to leave a home you loved so much. We grow so attached to the significance our memories give to the walls and spaces of a building, don't we? Your new home sounds lovely, too, and like a perfect place to retire -- how sweet to have deer come and visit you! I'm happy that your new place is becoming "home" for you now. We will enjoy our days here, thank you!

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  5. Very nice Lisa!! Looks like you are having fun. xo Steph

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    1. Thanks, Steph! I really appreciate hearing a "very nice" from you -- you're one of my most home design/decor savvy friends! Definitely having fun. :) xo

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  6. Lisa you write so beautifully. This post resonates with me as we just moved in August. When you said "everyday occurences in that house are suddenly significant last ones.", it's so true! You put into words what I was thinking as we packed up and got ready to leave our sweet old house. Congratulations on your new house, it looks beautiful.

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    1. I'm so glad to hear from you, Kim, and thank you, thank you for your very kind words about my writing and our new house. There are so many powerful emotions attached to leaving a home, aren't there? I hope that you and your family are all settled in to your new house now and are happily making new sweet memories that are turning it into "home". xo

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