Just a little house

 

Our house is just a little house. 

There's just not much to it, really. It's three bedrooms, two baths, two stories. Lots of closets and a garage. Big yard. All in all, it's about 1,800 square feet of basic living space.

It doesn't have a basement. It doesn't have a large family room. It doesn't have a pool-sized master bathtub. It doesn't have fancy countertops.

It doesn't have fancy anything.

It doesn't have wood floors throughout. It doesn't have a mudroom. It doesn't have a formal dining room.

It doesn't have a formal anything.

But for all it doesn't have, it'll do just fine.

We moved here nearly 10 years ago, attracted by the beauty of the area and its excellent schools. We told ourselves we would either add on or move when our son, who was starting preschool at the time, hit middle school and the elementary school district was no longer a consideration.

He starts high school soon and we have neither added on nor moved.

You've heard about the economy, right? Well, that's one of the reasons we haven't made major changes. But I've also been ... happy ... here. Actually, content might be the better word for it. We've made this little place a real home over the years.

I admit I didn't always feel that way.

I used to write home decor and design stories for a magazine. I would see lovely homes, put together by the region's top designers. It was a running joke that each time I would walk in the door from these assignments, I'd toss my keys down and say, "It's official: we live like crap." My husband would just nod in agreement.

Of course, magazines present the ideal. Yet even though I wrote articles touting this ideal myself, I would still get caught up in the dream of ... well, a dream home. We live in a rather affluent area and large, beautiful homes surround us, filled with upscale features and furnishings.

I have felt the sting of jealousy. I have tasted bitter frustration. It's not fair to compare; it's materialistic and petty. I was guilty of those things.

"Envy is the art of counting the other fellow's blessings instead of your own," - Harold Coffin

But when it comes down to it, I have learned that a dream home should have less to do with what fills the house and instead focus on what fills your heart.

Turns out my dream home is just a little house after all.

All my favorite people live there. There's plenty of room for this family to be together and still have space to just ... be.

We entertain. We host barbecues and parties. Our house is not big enough to hold all our friends. Wow - what a blessing that is.

It's cozy. Just ask the occupants.

Callie in the morning sun.

Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy have all been to my little house. Birthdays candles have been blown out. Holiday feasts prepared and shared. All our best memories have taken place under this roof.

It has a beauty all its own. There are some features that you simply cannot install; cannot purchase; cannot pull from Pinterest boards. They are the feelings you have when you are in a space: joy, peace and tranquility. And they are the most beautiful features of a home.

It's practical.Our little house uses fewer resources and costs less to maintain than a large home. That has mattered to us for practical, as well as philosophical, reasons. We are blessed beyond measure to have safe shelter.

So, for all the gee-whiz features this little house doesn't have, it boasts the most important things of all: hope, love, happiness, contentment and gratitude.

And God knows where we live.