From this house, I’ve learned that sometimes, beauty is underneath the surface.
Exactly four years ago today, we bought our current home (the one we’re selling two weeks from today). We left the closing and came right back to the house to begin to uncover windows my husband had discovered on the outside of the home. They were under a layer of plaster and couldn’t be seen at all inside. My husband climbed up on a ladder and with a small hammer, started to pound gently. Then, he used other tools and slowly, I saw a sliver of the pair of stained glass windows I have come to love. I remember standing there with our son, not even yet three. My husband was so happy to show me the beauty he knew was there all along. In the four years that have passed, he has revealed her true glory to me; day by day, month by month, year by year, he has made this the home we all adore, bringing her back to the true beauty she always was, hidden for so long.
And in two weeks, we sell this beloved home in the pursuit of our dream–mountains, land, and wide open spaces. It’s so bittersweet for me, really–leaving a place I love, but I’ve done it before many times and I will do it again.
In each house or place I’ve lived, I’ve learned, but no place more than in this house. This house has taught me to see beauty even where there might be none and that when you really believe in something, tend to it, work on it, and invest time into it, it can shine beyond what you had imagined.
In this home, I’ve buried a dog, lost and found friends, grown closer to God, cried and celebrated with my husband, raised a toddler to a boy, and become a mother of two. Her walls tell our story. Her walls tell my story. And these windows, well, they tell her own story. Beauty hides beneath the surface–in every thing, in every situation, in every person. Beauty is right there but we must open our eyes to see it.
This home has helped me to see my blessings–earthly and non–by mothering my children, my spirit, and the sacred within her walls. I will miss her and I graciously thank her as we move on to our next home, our dream with the view of the mountain. I will forever miss the view of these beautiful windows, but I won’t forget the lessons they’ve taught me.
Thanks for Mothering the Divide here, my friends, as we try to see beauty even as it hides.