For "Busy Mama"

My home is full of mismatched furnishings, knit together by sentimentality. I recently read that this is a sign of an artist. I find a lot of comfort within my home. The arts & craft style chair once belonged to my paternal grandfather, himself a photographer. The similarly styled bookcase held my father's college texts as he & his bride worked to build a life on the GI Bill. The blue couch reminds us of new friendships. Countless pieces bring to mind long-held friendships & laughter. The bulky, tiger-grained, oak buffet recalls my mother's childhood days...of the Dust Bowl & the Great Depression. The blue recliner was a gift from my dying father-in-law to his dying wife, Juanita. It would bring her comfort in her last days without him by her side. Passed down from her mother-in-law, our century old, wooden rocker is a relic from the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. In her last days, Juanita gently rocked in this chair. She told me stories of soothing her baby (my husband) in this chair & assured me that I would one day rock a child of my own in it...& I did. The odd bookshelf that holds my sons' toys once held mine....


Society has so many double-standards. It seems perfectly acceptable to loudly proclaim how "skinny" someone is or to give a lecture on the evils of nicotine addiction & yet, one dare not mention the obesity of the orator. This double standard also shows up in the keeping of one's home. Over half of our culture would be classified as right-brained, globals, who find comfort in apparent "chaos". The left-brained, analytics, with their spartan orderliness find it necessary, even their right, to judge & lecture the rest of us. I actually find "collectors" to be more frugal, less judgemental, & far less materialistic than many who keep an "orderly home".


I love to say, "Pardon the mess, but we LIVE here". In left-brain homes, my soul cries out, "Don't you DO anything (besides clean?)" Look at the forest & fields, the coastlines, & even the skies. God may bring order out of chaos, but He created a world brimming with richly packed treasures. That's what "watching" & "attention to detail" is all about.