Our house is really small and I always tell Barry that I don’t really want a bigger house, but maybe a better designed home. Our kitchen can feel cramped and I really like baking, especially when the weather shifts. A close friend sent me a message the other day because her family had put an offer on a house that is roughly the same size that ours is. She wanted to know if I had any thoughts or advice on what it’s like to live in a small space. I didn’t really have much to say, only to remind her that a bigger space means more stuff and nobody really wants more stuff. Well, at least I don’t.
I also told my friend that I often think of my parents living in ‘the little house’ with us three kids…while building a house. Talk about close proximity. But I love that growing up I knew how to be in a small space with my parents and brothers. Eventually we moved into the bigger house, but we went on plenty vacations where we shared small spaces (tents, cabins, condos…) and I’m glad for each one of those times. Because it taught me something that I hold dear to my core: the gift of experience is the very best gift ever. Time together is the best medicine. It’s how I was raised and it’s how I’d like my girls to be raised. To know that being together, in life, is good, healthy and where it’s really at. The good stuff.
We do live in a small house. We don’t have a playroom, a great room, or even a dining room. Some days I think I want none of those and some days I think that I want all of those. But most days, I’m really glad that we’ve simply got what we’ve got and that we’re all squealing with happiness. The fact of the matter is this: if we’re home, we’re almost always in the same room together. It was true when Barry and I lived in the smallest house ever, and it’s true now with the girls.
I hope my girlfriend and her family get the small house they put an offer on. Living small, in comparison to the rest of America (I’m well aware that many other pockets of the world is vastly different…), is a great thing. I find it hard to remember that. My friend has been wanting a little patch of green to sink her hands into and this little house might just be that place. This week another friend sent me this blog post and I really, really loved it.
