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As a newly married couple in our early twenties, my husband and I built a very typical three-bedroom, one-bathroom ranch-style house on a country lot in upstate New York. We had three children in six years and their lives became ours. We were thankful to the Lord for our blessings.
Homemade Stories
I’m a freelance writer and my home has inspired many article and story sales. My writing subjects included an unruly oregano patch that escaped its boundary, a mysterious happening with a pathetic fall mum plant on our brick steps, and a birdhouse with baby bluebirds crashing onto our deck during a picnic. A climbing dark red rose bush on our split rail fence suddenly produced a soft pink rose, after three decades. Certainly, none of these stories were earth-shattering, but all happened at our home, and editors approved.
Although many things about the house are dated, I still love it. Most couples would have built on or moved. We honestly could have used more space when raising our children. Why do many people move all the time, looking for bigger and better with newer, high-end furnishings? Many are on a constant search for greener pastures. Yet, we remain firmly planted on our not-so-perfect lawn.
Throughout the years, we’ve had several visits from the animal world. We’ve encountered countless garbage can and bird feeder invasions, and even a pumpkin demolition from Mr. Smokey craving pumpkin seeds. We’ve had Innumerable deer visits, including a three-legged one I dubbed Tripod. My story about a Christmas Eve mouse sneaking into the family room and nibbling on a giant chocolate coin in my son’s stocking was another published true story.
My fictionalized story about Tripod and our backyard shed was the feature story in a children’s magazine. Because I had “real” pictures of the three-legged deer, they were included with their beautiful illustrations.
Shades of Contentment
All of these things could have happened at any house anywhere, and most probably did. But they became our memories and that’s what makes them special to us. Our children and spouses with our nine grandchildren enjoy visiting often and live close by.
Do you have lush, emerald green grass that’s the envy of any golf course? Or is your grass mixed with so much vegetation, also known as weeds, that you can’t tell where the actual lawn starts or ends? Don’t despair. Maybe you don’t care if the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. Perhaps it’s always been just the right shade of green for you. Another name for our particular shade of green might be called contentment. Be grateful for all blessings you receive.
If you liked this, you might also like Establishing My Steps
Christine Collier writes from New York.
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