“Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don’t unravel”
Good advice, though I can’t sew. I can’t even loosely baste a seam. I failed sewing in the seventh grade, for the teacher didn’t consider it fashion forward to have the armhole of my jumper positioned at the hip. I didn’t do much better at home economics (yes, they had courses such as this – let’s save the shock and awe for another day, shall we?), though I excelled at pudding. And passing notes.
Which retrospectively suggests that I had my priorities straight even then – as long as you had good people around you, everything else would follow. Take care of the ones you love. Pass the notes, hold the secret, righteously defend (“Mimi would be an exemplary student if she were a bit less social”). Ah well. It is with this limited skill set that I have built my house. Ultimately I bought the drapes and learned how to cook. And though no one would mistake me for Martha Stewart, I’d say this is a pretty awesome home. People curl up when they get here, they nestle in. Shoes come off, defenses are shed, talk is uncensored, silence is religious. There is nothing more transcendent than this.
Our Thanksgiving plans got derailed by my little surgery a few days back and we’re staying here instead of heading up to New Jersey. The kids will be with their in-laws. And as much as I will miss the noise, the laughter, the hugs – I am fortunate enough to have all this love around me every day. The air is filled with “I love you’s”, each room holds secrets told in whispers that repeat as favorite lyrics co-written once upon a time, and there is comfort in the sighs of the couch as I settle in to listen to the stories of home. When I feel the sun on my back and I find magic in this very moment, I know that my bounty is as massive as my gratitude.
So as many of you head points north, east, west or south – travel safe. Eat a lot, laugh more, grab a nap. Take a walk, give out hugs. Share your love. Enfold these moments in your heart, for they will become the most gorgeous aspects of your home. They become the most treasured parts of you.
Waiting for the Karma Truck 