Living life in the Cottage...

This weekend we spent alot of time accessing our living quarters and our goals for what we have versus what we want versus what we need.
Home has so many definitions for me.....so many of them not tied to what anyone else particularly values. It matters to me that its welcoming to our children and future grandchildren....while elaborate decor is absolutely pleasing to me, more important to me is a decor that allows for children's art, high schooler's shoes, apilled juices, and lots of snuggling. For me, home is about staging the comfort I want to share with our family and friends.
Modern marketing tries so hard to shape each one of us and they don't even know us. We are sold so many trains of thought that have nothing to do with our lives. What is "popular" What is "fashionable" What is "nice".....but lately, Dh and I have truly blessed to have a glimpse into several families lives that are close to us. We've been privvy to what struggles they have, what successes they celebrate and how their perceptions hinder and expand their realities. We have seen the masks that the world has sold them, often costing them much more of them than they even realize.
Most of our friends have much more means to work with than we do. We have chosen to bring me home and live on one income. Its not pretty for me personally to say or hear Dh say "we've chosen x over y because it is much more affordable. My pride still runs high that those who are "with it" don't have to worry about $. It was astonishing to me after much reflection this last year together and alone that truly in the things that make our life together .....we already have what we desired, most of what we want and certainly all we need. Its a startling thing actually, to realize in the struggle of all that is daily choice making, that we are indeed living the life we intended to live albeit not the fantasy fairytale I may occasionally pine for.
Growing into lovely.....maturing into the realization that all that sparkles may not be of value, and that our interactions, our daily lives together, mean more than the things and possessions we may choose to spend our lives striving for. Life is today, THIS day, and I don't want to waste any of my God given moments being less than thankful for all He has given me.