Nothing Like A Little Change of Perspective
Our oldest son left for college last this fall. He's a good kid, and I was sorry to pack him up and send him off. But we raised him to be independent and it is his time to find his own way. But I miss him. I miss being a part of his daily life. He keeps in touch, mostly through texting, but it isn't the same. The first few weeks were hard. All of the sudden the same house we have lived in for 10 years, didn't feel the same. Every room looked the same, but felt different. It was like a mirror image. The rooms looked the same but were not the same. Every night after I put our younger two children to bed, I walked into his room and looked around. It just felt empty without him there. I felt empty without him there. So what did I do? I rearranged my house of course!So, I didn't rearrange it all by myself. We turned the exercise room back into a formal living area (I have been waiting years to do this!). The upstairs game room became the exercise room/game room, ie: lots of video games and exercise equipment. We rearranged the kids' rooms. We rearranged our own bedroom. The cats roamed warily through the seemingly new house. Exploring, inspecting the changes. I walked through the house the night we finished. I put the two younger kids were in bed. The house was quiet. It didn't feel so empty anymore. It was all the same stuff. Just rearranged. I still miss my son, but I no longer have to catch my breath when I walk into a room where I can still clearly picture him, even though he wasn't there.
A change of perspective can make an impossible situation the best thing that ever happened to you. Or it can turn a house that breaks your heart back into a home again.
