I Was A House, by Star for K
Once upon a time there was a nice little house, on a not so busy street. The lawn was pretty & green, and the flowers, shrubs and trees were all manicured to perfection. It was an attractive little house.
One day a car pulled into the drive and a man got out. He looked at the little house and the house beamed with pride. "Tenants!!" thought the house, maybe a family some day for me to embrace and keep safe. A family that will love me and fill my empty rooms with love and happiness. The man swayed by the attractiveness of the house bought it and soon married. The little house fell into a slumber and dreamed of the sound of children and laughter. The family did come along eventually and the lady of the house too busy to tend a family, work AND care for the house, stopped washing the windows, painting the walls, patching accidental holes. Her family neeed her, she had no time for holes, and windows.
In the mean time, the house had grown accustomed to children and their noises, their laughter, their cries in the night. It had held birthday parties, celebrations, in-laws at Christmas and neighbors and friends inside it's walls. This pleased the little house. It was full of love. The house was content and understood that buying a pair of braces was more important than new carpeting. Or paying for a college fund took precedence over repairing a window or a faulty garage door.
Year after year the little house gave up more and more until one day; tired and broken down the little house sighed. The beautiful lawn was full of weeds, the windows didn't open like they used to, the plumbing was in need of repair, the roof had been let go. Even a few shingles even hung off the side of the eaves. The house was in bad repair, it wasn't as attractive as it was the day the man pulled up in the car and said "I love it, I'll take it!" The children were long gone. They had left in what seemed such a short time to go have little houses of their own. The man of the house spent more and more time away and it was so quiet all of a sudden.
One day the lady of the house was alone in the little house and started taking quite a shocking inventory of all that she saw was in need of attention. "When? she asked herself did the windows quit opening and how dirty are these walls, and look at the roof, and the rose garden was now a parking space for a minivan!. What have I been doing that I let this little house that I love get so shabby?"
With only her silence and the weeds and dirt to comfort her, the woman of the house sat and closed her eyes. She could hear the little first foot steps of her children, the cries in the night for her to comfort and chase away the boogey man. But the reality of the day set in when she took inventory of everything that needed to be repaired. There was so much that she let go for the sake of others that she forgot to take care of the house that took care of her and her family. She cried. She felt overwhelmed. She felt like she was drowning.
Alone with her thougths she decided to do SOMETHING! But what? The little house had been like her in reality. With the family gone, how hard would it be to take the time to repair the house? She threw a fresh coat of paint on the walls to make the house look better, but it didn't really. The roof was still shabby, the garden was still weeds, and the superficial paint job didnt' make her or the house actually any better.
The house had served well for years. It kept the family warm, safe and dry. It saw accomplishments, and defeats. It had sent her children to college because of all the sacrifices it made. And eventually it watched the man suffering from his own maladies leave.
The lady of the house did the best she knew how to do. She began to write an inventory of sorts of things that needed to be done. There was a list for rennovations, improvements, and things that needed to just go. She took her list and began to work a little at a time on the house she once loved so dearly, but had neglected. Little by little the house and the lady felt better. She got the roof fixed, she enlarged the attic for a study space for her college degree, she removed the dirty carpet and put in hard wood floors that shined like the sun. The windows were repaired and washed, and she even got rid of some old furniture, baggage and junk - making a yard sale windfall she bought some flowers and moved her new car back to the drive.
Standing in the middle of the road looking at the revived little house she realized how much she and the little house were alike. And all the while she was working on the house, she had been working on herself as well. This pleased the little house and it also pleased the lady of the house.
People driving by the little house, saw how beautiful the little house was. It looked like a house that was loved. It looked like a place you'd want to rest in; a safehaven from the world. And the lady was pleased to see that once she took care of her home, others around her couldnt' help but do the same to their homes which in turn changed their lives. The lady of the house by taking care of herself unknowingly became a contageous epidemic of happiness and wellbeing.
The lady decided the little house really was a castle. And every castle has a princess (her) and every princess has a prince (or an Ogre who's kind) and she lived happily everafter (but still went once a week to counseling and Home Depot)
The End.
I'm a castle K...somedays Castle Dracula...but still I'm a castle. I didn't get to be a shabby little house overnight and in my day I was quite a "deal". I like knowing that by working on myself from the inside out...I'm healing the right way.
Dont' let anyone stand in the way of your repairs. You deserve it.
Hugs & Love
- Star