Home not House

We all have a dwelling in which we live. As I started on my own journey, leaving my parents home and finding my own way, I lived in many different places. Apartments, duplexes, rental houses. Then right before my third child was born we bought a house.

It wasn't a big fancy house in the foothills. It wasn't grand by any means, but it was OURS! It wasn't as big as we wanted, didn't have all the features we wanted but over the years we made it ours. Added personal touches, moved walls, tore out old and replaced with new. Changed colors countless times. This was more than a house, it was our home.

I loved my home. I can tell you what was in every inch of that place. Tell you how many colors were on each wall. Tell you how many tears were shed and how much laughter was contained in each room. Where I rocked my little baby, where I soothed the bumps and bruises of the not so little babies. Where I cooked my very first turkey for a group of over 20 and stressed all day that it was going to be a big flop. It wasn't, just like everything else that day, it was perfect.

Then, like almost everyone else, economy hit us. It hit us hard. Hubby lost his job, bank didn't really care, didn't want to cooperate with us. So that house, our home, was taken away. All our hard work, all those memories, now some stranger is going to walk in and make it theirs. I hope that someone loves it as much as we did. I hope they make their own and create as many memories there as we had.

It is not all bad, let me reassure you. In exchange for losing our home in Tucson. Tucson where it is hot 80% of the time, dry almost 90% of the time, and brown and dusty 100% of the time. In exchange for that I get to create new memories in the place where my first memories are from. We now live in Michigan. Michigan where the weather is different every day, where we actually have seasons, where it is beautiful 100% of the time.

It is going to be so different. But we all love it. We will be sharing living quarters with my parents and my sister. It will be tough while we all adjust. But new memories will be made here, more laughter, more tears, and eventually, this house we live in will become our home.

Freckled Noses

So, why "Freckled Noses".  Partly because this is my first attempt at blogging and who has time to come up with a catchy little title.  Mostly because the three things that need me most in my life have freckles sprinkled across their little noses.

As a child I had freckles sprinkled across my nose too.  If I look really closely I can still see them.  Maybe now that I do not live in the land of intense heat, I may actually venture into the outside world and maybe, just maybe, they will come back.

But I do love freckles.  Love them!  Many people look at them as unwanted imperfections.  I think they give character to your face.  Inherited traits maybe, a sign that you love the outdoors, who knows why some get them and some do not but I love them just the same.

Freckles are also something we tend to take for granted.  Something that is so easy to overlook.  When my youngest was probably about 4 he came up to me one day crying and asked when he would get his freckles so he could look like his siblings.  It made me stop to think.  How easy something so small and forgettable is but to someone who is the only one without them, they feel left out.  Happily he received his freckles within time and now matches his siblings perfectly.

So there it is, freckles hold a special place in my heart.  A symbol of youth and freedom, of carefree days outside, a feature unique to everyone that has the pleasure of having them.  A reminder to love our imperfections no matter what form they take because they are what make each and every one of us special in our own way.