Home

When I walk into my house, I feel the stresses of the day subside. It still amazes me.

I've never had a home that really was home, at least not initially. The college dorm rooms that changed every year... the basement apartment that I rented during my last year of college... the mobile home we bought and lived in our first two years of marriage... even our first house where we lived for 23 years. Sure, in time they became home due to familiarity, but I'm realizing that they were never home by feel.

I now own a home.

I fell in love with it as soon as I found the online listing on various MLS sites. I studied every photo attached to the listings until I thought I knew the house floor plan before I ever got to view it.

I was afraid that the house wouldn't live up to the expectations I had built for it, but I didn't need to be afraid... it met them plus some. I took dozens and dozens of photos during the viewing that I set up, so I could share it with my friends and family.

The house isn't perfect, by any means. It needs new windows. It needs new siding, or at least frequent paint jobs to counteract the chipping paint. It has water damage on the flooring under the built in desk, as well on the wall by the one shelf. The lazy Susan in the kitchen is empty because it doesn't spin like it should. I need new flappers in two toilets, new drains in the two kitchen sinks, and the one bathroom faucet leaks. The wood floors need to be refinished. The master bathroom needs a new bathtub. The lawn needs holes filled and reseeded. And of course, we've already discussed the landscaping.

But when you walk into the house, you feel peace. It's calm. Relaxing. It's home. My children feel it too.

Even the puppy feels it.