Different Perspective

We live in an apartment. We started looking to buy a house recently and our list of "must haves" is long. So long, in fact, that I have been labeled by my husband as hopelessly picky. As we have looked and looked (our poor realtor!), we have become hopelessly stressed. Nothing was right, everything was out of our price range. And then a friend had a wise word.

"Wait".

Ahhhh.

Thank you.

And as we have retreated into contentment with the present situation, all of those "must haves" and amenities just seem to fade into the frenzied distance. Take yesterday for example:

I met our neighbors. They moved in recently and are a truly sweet family. They had to move into the apartments because their house burned two months ago. They lost virtually everything. I asked her what she missed the most. She said there were a few things that she missed, but since they were minutes away from losing their lives in that fire when they made it out, she was just so grateful to have her kids and her husband. Then she added, "hey, I know what it's like to be new in town so let me know if you need anything!"

Wow. Really?

Then last night:

I was hemming the skirt of a dress I am attempting to make. I was sitting in our bathroom (don't judge, it's really quiet.). I was sewing as fast as I could, knowing that I only had about ten minutes of quiet, tops. JR busted through the door. "Mom, I brought you something for you to be delightful about!" She unloaded a box of matchbox cars and the felt racetrack onto the floor. Next came AJ, stark naked. He grinned, said, "hi!!" and sat to pick out a car.

I gave up the sewing and joined them on the floor. In walked my husband. He took a spot on the counter and started talking. I sat there in the 4X6 bathroom with both of my kids and my husband. We were actually laughing, talking and playing in that tiny space.

Hmmm.

My attitude towards "more space" is looking a lot like selfishness, not necessity.

I am really glad we have a living room, a bathroom and a kitchen. Beyond that, it's gravy!