MY house

(Disclaimer... - the above picture is not of MY house, but is an example of the work that my son and his girlfriend/business partner do so capably - in fact it is a part of THEIR home that they are now building.)

This poem has been on my mind all day and I'm finally finding time to get to this post. It's been a snow day after all and I had to go out and play!

This piece was written during a time when I was very unsure if I wanted to stay in the house where we had raised our family, had lived in for over 20 years at that point. It was also just before my amazing son had come to me to propose that he wanted to redo the kitchen and the floors to make it a new and more liveable place for me to be. Along the way, however, I had discovered that the really important place is within. And it felt nice today that I was just so content to be here - yes, still in the same house (though it has been beautifully redone as mentioned above) we had all shared for so many years and now where I spend much time on my own. I still don't quite know if I want to stay here, but today it felt good as it has for some time now...:) And it's been a nice way to end the day revisiting the part of the journey that led to this poem and to celebrate how now it means something different even to me.

MY House

Four strong walls hold me in.
Solid, sure, plumb.
Pegged at the corners with truth,
braced where needed by love.
Interrupted only by
cystal clear windows
that frame majestic, distant mountains
caressed by a multi-colored sky
and rolling hills in the foreground
through which purposeful streams
flow to the beloved river
near my door.
The wooden floors beneath my feet
have varied grains that show
growth and endurance.
A soft, inviting chair begs to be used
as a place to relax, think, read, wonder.
The fire in the stone fireplace crackles
with energy and warmth
at the center of my home.
A simple, well-worn desk
sits near a window and
leads me to record images
and feelings that come from
this process, this journey.
This is MY house,
my inner sanctuary
where I work to find
meaning in the many facets of life.
A place where I am learning
that I have control
of what and who to let in
and where I don’t have to
entertain worn out thoughts, emotions,
patterns, perceptions
that no longer serve me.
This is MY house.

Sarah Carlson

October 21, 2007