I chose to name my blog “Life Stages” because at any given time in our life, we experience events which surround us at that moment in time. Although this particular blog is on a personal level, there is an underlying staging message. Enjoy.
I was a stay-at-home mom through graduation. When the kids were young, we didn’t have the best furniture, the biggest house, or the fanciest car. As with any young family, we became adept at balancing the practical with the unpredictable. Why would we purchase the best furniture when we knew that our two-year old’s sippy cup may leak? We expected our rambunctious child to jump from cushion to cushion hoping to fly…and not get a concussion. And we knew that once they left the house, we would miss it all!
Our toddlers knew which of our college hand-me-down pans were ok to bang on AND they quickly learned when it was time to stop banging! The toddler stage certainly lived up to our nervous anticipation. Indeed, they tested every nerve we possessed, but we managed to survive fairly unscathed. Don’t get me wrong, we set limits with our children. But we also didn’t want them to live in a home that had so many restrictions that they felt inhibited. We wanted to make our house a home with wonderful memories.
As the children went through each stage of life, we did as well. I can think of a few key transitions in my life as a parent. From birth to about one, I felt I had control for the most part…then they began to walk. It wasn’t long that play dates became my saving grace. Even though my time was spent grocery shopping, it was heaven not dragging the kids around for two solid hours. Each parent took turns on a weekly basis. To this day, my dearest friend was one of the first moms I interacted with and our children share a special bond.
Then school began. I found this to be a bitter-sweet stage. While I finally got a bit of downtime, I was soon trying to understand the newest methods to teach math…long division was so much easier in my day! The birthday parties tripled, germs increased, and I started my classroom volunteer gig. Middle and high school had the typical drama with activities and expenses increasing exponentially, we also moved into a bigger home where we would make more memories. Thankfully, each stage up to that point had prepped us for the possible doomsday moments.
Our current stage is having kids in college and being new empty-nesters and we are now in a ranch home rather than our 2-story. As time has progressed, I have witnessed my children incorporate each of these stages on a “grown-up” level. They know that they can’t fly regardless which cushion they jump from, their play dates have turned into study sessions, and they know the trying times will eventually pass. Thank goodness they’ve come to realize that popularity was so overrated!
Today my kids possess our hand-me-down pots and pans plus whatever we could convince them to take! It won’t be long before they will be listening to clanging pots and pans, cleaning sippy cup spills, and surviving the tumultuous middle and high school years and I hope they find the positives at every stage.
So what in the world does this have to do with our homes? Well as you can imagine, at each stage of our lives we climbed a little higher on the ladder, our homes were a bit larger, and our furniture was finally a worthy investment…and goodbye minivan! We created OUR home with fond memories at every stage of our lives.
So no matter which stage you are in with your home endeavors, I understand the transitions. Give me a call me today so I can help you stage YOUR next home….whichever stage you may be living.
