Wednesday 26 September 2012

A space that's home



Monday was moving day. We spent the day taping boxes, but mainly lifting them.

The night before we had packed our cars and I made a mental note of all the things that were coming in my car: my journals, camera, my favourite books, photo albums of the girls, my laptop, some jewellery and trinkets I've had forever. Things that felt like a bit of home. Things I didn't want going with the removalist. I felt safer knowing these things were with me.

I wondered if these were my most prized items, what I'd save if I had to pack the car and just leave. And I suppose they are. Each filled with memories, each revealing a part of me.

Along with those items I threw in a few practicalities that I knew would make life easier - the cleaning products, the portable DVD player for the girls and clean sheets so I wouldn't be searching through boxes when bed-making time came.

When Monday night arrived, we found ourselves rather boxed in. A lot less done than we had hoped. The new house given a quick clean, boxes piled up in every room, the beds still to be made, dinner non-existent.

I drove to my parent's house to pick up our girls while the removalists continued box dropping. "Tonight we get to sleep at our new house," I told them a minute into our drive home. Then, glancing in the review mirror, I saw their beautiful eyes closed fast asleep.

I rang my husband to tell him I was five minutes away, and I had our most precious cargo with me.

And that's when it hit me, that all these things I was packing were never going to make this house feel like the home I wanted it to be without these two little girls filling each room with their love and laughter, without the four of us coming together each day.

My husband keeps saying a house is just four {or more} walls. But a home is more, I keep telling him.

Tonight we spoke about how far we've come, those who have helped us so much along the way. And how we're feeling. Like this space we're living in {with all it's unpacked boxes and two beautiful little girls and four people who love each other endlessly} is already home.

I write that with a sigh of relief, a tired body and a beautifully happy heart.

xx

What makes your space home?

10 comments:

  1. It's great that you've made it..intact!

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  2. Ahh moving is so tiring but so satisfying at the same time. Hope you settle in quickly. x

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  3. Im so glad moving day is done for you! Now you just have the days of unpacking, I still have our spare room filled to the brim with boxes :(

    Family is definitely what makes a house a home... it is the most important possession of all

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  4. Absolutely, we move every couple of years, it's the family you take with you that makes it home. We've lived in some awful areas in inadequate housing (Army) & still we have a dream of a homestead on a farm in our hearts, it will happen, SOON!! It takes time (like 15+ years of marriage) & we're not rushing into anything, with 4 tweens & teens, we know exactly how to build & the lifestyle we need for harmony. You just keep growing, in the meantime, your patience becomes an absolute virtue!! Love Posie

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  5. Beautiful.
    Well done on the move - but more importantly, the family you have created.
    :-) x

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  6. Sounds like bliss. I hope you are very happy there, sounds like u will be xx

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  7. Oh how lovely Elisa, such a beautiful post. I don't think I'll ever forget the exhaustion, both physical & mental, following both times we've moved. Such an emotional moment leaving one home, but so much inspiration from starting over in another. Sounds like you'll be beautifully happy & settled in your new abode with your precious family xo

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  8. Congratulations on a successful move Elisa, this is a lovely post. Hope the settling in is going well.xx

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  9. Sounds like it's all fallen into place, moving is a big thing, well done and enjoy settling into your new home Elisa!

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  10. Enjoy the settling in period... That's my favourite part of moving. Trying to figure out where things go, whether this or that should go here or there, moving things around a dozen times only for it all to end up back in the first place you out it.

    You are right about a house not being a home until all the family are there... A real home is lived IN.

    Enjoy xxx

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Thank you for your words and support. I'm so glad you stopped by xx