Monday, October 03, 2011

A Birth, A Wedding, and a Death...

"'When I was a child I heard an old minister say that a house was not a real home until it had been consecrated by a birth, a wedding, and a death . . . . "

--L.M. Montgomery, Anne's House of Dreams

Anna shared this today over at Pleasant View Schoolhouse, and it made me think about the home I grew up in. My first thought was that it might be difficult to find many "homes," with the way our culture makes families move over and over, through the years. Charming and I had ten homes by the time we had been married ten years. Now it is up to twelve, but next month we will *celebrate* twenty years in this house!

My parents lived in their last home for 42 years. There were two births (one a stillbirth), two deaths, and five weddings from that home, as well as four First Communions and Confirmations. Toward the end, there was a grand 50th anniversary celebration.

Remember the old poem? "It takes a heap o' livin' in a house to make it home?" by Edgar Guest?
The poem sounds kinda corny nowadays, but the sentiment is good. It seems that today "home" is a place to change your clothes on your way from here to there. Even homeschoolers joke that they are "car-schoolers," going from one enrichment activity to another.

We have had two births and two weddings in this home of ours. Thankfully, no deaths, unless you count my parents. But we did most of the raising of six, and all of the raising of our last two, here. I have several neighbors that have been here longer than I. I am a blessed woman.

Will share more on this later. Gotta run for now...

2 comments :

Jen said...

And then Anne and Gilbert lost their little first born baby and I cried buckets!

Good thoughts on this. We are still at the beginning of our journey - two births (in this home), no weddings, and no deaths. Unless you count the two rainbow crabs, Pepper One and Pepper Two. And I am not.

G.L.H. said...

Oh, my, if we counted small pets, we'd be sunk! Glad to see you back, my friend, tho' I'm jealous of your month off, too....