Home is not just a place.
It’s a feeling. It’s a smell. It’s a vision. It’s a taste. It’s a set of sounds.
It’s wearing slippers so I can scamper around the kitchen blissfully unaware of every sticky spot or accidental drop of liquid on the hardwood floor.
It’s tripping over a collection of little boys’ shoes while I walk through the laundry room to take out the garbage.
It’s the sound of a toddler’s voice calling for his “mama” with increased urgency until I come back into view again.
It’s a missing hand towel from the bathroom, again.
It’s an unopened Amazon package sitting on the bench in the entryway that I cannot, for the life of me, remember what I ordered.
It’s the smell of my best attempt at cooking Arroz con Gandules that has developed over the years.
It’s my husband and I yelling at the dog to stop barking as a friendly neighbor walks past our house.
It’s grout between the floor tiles that will get a deep cleaning, “one of these days”.
It’s the sound of a beeping air fryer in the morning notifying me that the sausage links are ready to eat.
It’s the bed sheet that never stays on four corners of the bed.
It’s the muffled giggles of children secretly playing board games past bedtime in their room.
It’s laundry baskets of clothes scattered throughout the house whose cleanliness status is only known by me.
It’s a partially finished puzzle with pieces strewn about on the dining room table which will inevitably need to be cleaned up before its completion.
It’s a small sign scotch taped to the storm door politely begging its visitors to avoid ringing the doorbell between 1-4 pm.
It’s hearing spontaneous knocks on the front door accompanied by a short-statured human hovering behind the privacy glass window panes every afternoon.
It’s sitting in my favorite secondhand Caramel colored chair to write while my youngest naps in the afternoon.
It’s the faint echo of a basketball hitting the cement while the boys play with their friends across the street.
It’s drifting off to sleep accidentally when all I thought I needed was a moment’s rest.
It’s a collection of empty and partially full shampoo and conditioner bottles on the shower ledge.
It’s a baby monitor glowing on my nightstand displaying an image of our sleeping one-year-old with his feet curled up under him and his head turned to the side.
It’s being a little too hot or a little too cold and adjusting the thermostat to a temperature my husband never agrees with.
It’s an overflowing pantry that seems to always be holding an expired product no matter how often I clean it out.
It’s the sound of an oblivious teenager bopping around the kitchen in the wee hours of the night while the rest of the house attempts to sleep.
It’s a yard with skirt guns and hand shovels hidden in the grass.
It’s a patch of mud that we want to sod, but will probably go “unsodded” again this year.
It’s the sound of people imitating elephant, cow, sheep, pig, frog, goat, and horse sounds repeatedly until our toddler is appeased.
It’s a garage that is continually being cleaned and organized but rarely appears cleaned and organized.
It’s a line of toy cars, buses, trucks, and trains on the back of the family room couch.
It’s a collection of various paints stored in the basement for whenever I get the itch to refinish a piece of furniture.
It’s a schoolroom with multiple desks holding open math books and half-finished worksheets from the morning.
It’s a giant bean bag on the stair landing that the kids jump, slide, and fall onto as they descend down the stairs.
It’s a basic swing set in the backyard that the children never tire of swinging on and the birds never tire of pooping on.
It’s the sound of a late-night basketball game on TV with several little boys huddled around their dad avoiding bedtime.
It’s closing the garage, turning off most of the lights throughout the main floor and double checking the doors are locked before retiring to bed.
This is the essence of our home in 2025. Take some time to capture yours. And please, comment with some of your home’s character with me!
*A “Breather Post” is a break from my usual content. It gives me an outlet to write about lighter topics to aid in my healing.
Thanks for reading!
