9/11/10 This morning’s Commercial Appeal “M” section featured the upcoming Central Gardens home tour. It brought back one of my all time top memories---taking the tour with Josh the weekend before my 50th birthday. On the gorgeous mahogany table in one of the homes was a collection of hinged, porcelain/enamel limoges-type boxes. One was encircled with books and had a Wordsworth quote on it. Larry and I had just been to Wordsworth’s home in the Lake District of England the summer before. Josh must have registered my fascination from afar---I certainly never touched the box. Just days later it was my birthday gift from Larry and one of my most unforgettable. He really had to do some searching (Babcocks, probably) to find the exact one and then dig deep in his pockets to purchase it, I’m sure.
I continue to love those home tours---it’s like a sneak peek at the kind of houses I once assumed I would live in when I grew up. Not sure where I got that false assumption. Maybe all little girls have it. A 2 story home with the nice yard, big windows, hardwood floors, fireplaces and comfy dens----with a wrap around porch and a swing thrown in for good measure.
Even now as an adult when I walk around my neighborhood at dusk, I love to see the “glowing” rooms of others’ homes through their nice clean windows. It feels like a peek at happiness. And often my pleasure turns to something similar to regret because I’m ashamed that if someone could even see through my less than squeaky clean windows, they would see dishes piled in my sink. I just don’t seem to have it as all together as those who live in the “big houses.”
Shakespeare phrases it well. “But oh, how bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man’s eyes.” (As You Like It Act 5, scene 2)
Even I have “taught” others an important truth----never compare your insides with someone else’s outsides. It seems I need some re-teaching in this area myself.
And you do as well if you peek at the “squeaky clean windows” of my blog and assume I have something which you don’t have. If we all have the Lord, we’re on level ground----make that holy ground. There’s no place else I’d rather be.
