Day Twenty-Two: Creating Home (Filled with Friendship)

I really keep thinking when am I going to
write about the "things" that fill our homes,
that make a house OUR HOME??

Every day, I think today is the day I will post
about my Starbucks Cup, my Yellow Plastic Cups
or my fetish with tables--
but alas,
each day, I find myself writing about other STUFF-
stuff that's NOT STUFF at all!

Well here I am again,
writing a post on the "WHO & the HEART" of a home,

rather than the "WHAT" of a home!

My kids and I leave to join my husband in Texas in 7 days,
one week from Tomorrow.
So last Saturday and tonight,
I have played hostess to my kids and their friends
bidding fond farewells to their friends and our neighbors!

And emotion has filled my heart-

this is the hardest move I have ever had to make
and my heart is full of GRATITUDE for the life
we have had here,
short as it has been.

Entertaining has always been an important part of
our lives.

Each time we have bought a house, we have worked
hard to have a home fit for Entertaining.
When we moved to this house,
I was a little concerned about the ability to
host a large number of people in our home.
And for awhile, I kind of didn't invite at all.

But I will tell you, that our house just didn't feel
like a HOME until we started opening it up
to those we love most,
and to to those we hardly know at all.

When we opened our house up,
for dinners,

for parties,

or just plain fun

it became a HOME!

I think a lot of different thoughts can keep us from
opening our hearts and our homes up to those around us.
We might think our house isn't big enough,
or nice enough,
or that we don't cook well enough!

We might think there is nothing unique to offer,
we may be afraid to open our hearts to rejection
or we might wonder why someone would want to
share their time with us!

So many reasons,
so many negative fantasies;
all of them NOT TRUE!

I promise you that when you open your home
(and your heart) to
FRIENDSHIP,
no one cares what is on the table,
what kind of clothes you wear,
or how many bedrooms and bathrooms
your home has-
what they care about is how they leave your
HOME feeling better about themselves,
better about life,
and feeling a whole lot of LOVE & KINDNESS!

And that,
my friends
is what makes a house a HOME!