Oh for the love of…
My family has lived in Robbinsville for over 11 years. When we moved here, we had 3 kids who were 6,
4 and 1, and our home included dogs. We
had a house full of love but not much stuff.
In fact, we had a whole room that was empty. I don’t mean that it was spare; it was
empty. It was so empty for so long that
when my daughter played with her dollhouse, she left one room empty – that’s
how normal it was to have an “empty room” in our house.
Now that the kids are not so little, my husband and I looked
at that empty room and thought it might be fun to make it into a “real” room.
We pulled up the old, ratty carpet, painted the walls and
installed new lights.
It was starting to look like something.
Next, we needed to start furnishing it.
We found a rug we liked.
Actually, we found a rug we loved.
And it went on sale. And the
store had it in stock. (No shipping charge!)
We jumped in the car and bought it.
That was on a Saturday.
It looked great! We
congratulated ourselves on our luck and good taste. The kids liked it. The dogs liked it. They took naps on it and brought their toys
onto it.
And by Monday, one of them had eaten through it. (One of the dogs, not one of the kids.)
When I discovered the pile of pulled rug material, I became
possessed. Sounds came out of me that I
did not recognize. I put the dogs in the
yard. Then I began the mourning process
of not being able to have nice things.
But time (and avoiding looking directly at the rug)
eventually brought calm. And, of course,
there is the love from dogs. What heals
you more than that? Their need to be
with you. The way they love you and are
so happy to see you. Every. Single. Day.
So, even though I lived through about an hour of wanting to
get rid of the dogs and keep the nice things, my love of my doggies won
out. I forgave them. I sat down on my new rug and repaired it by
hand. The rug looks pretty good and I
have a new respect for anything hand-made.
For anyone who totally “gets it” and, really, for anyone who
doesn’t, there are lots of stories like mine that will have you laughing
through the tears:
And a few other books to help you keep your sanity in your
home:
The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
The Miracle of Mindfulness; An Introduction to the Practice ofMeditation by Thich Nha’Hanh
Flea Market Fabulous by Lara Spencer
- Rebecca H., Robbinsville Branch
This had me laughing out loud!
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