Dream Home

I was reading a post yesterday about moving into a dream home and it made me stop to think about how I define this elusive place. I have always had a multiple personality dream home. I love small cozy cottages, farmhouses with wrap around porches, castles with turrets, and lovely old Victorian ladies. So I have had a hard time pinning down exactly what my dream home is.
Years ago , my dream home would have been an old Victorian home. I bought one in 1992, the week before Christmas. She was built in 1909 and had 18 rooms. Her previous owner was a school teacher who inherited it from her parents. She turned it into a boarding house and thus lived in only a portion of it. It had been empty for many years, when I bought it. The house took 3 years to renovate and more sweat, tears and blood than I want to think about. When we finally moved into it. I thought I was in heaven at first. Over the course of the 3 year renovation we had become used to total strangers stopping by to take a look. In fact, we probably would have been through a year earlier if there had not been so many interruptions. But, even after we moved in, it was common for people to stop at my house and insist they come in for a look at the house after we finished it. This became very old to me. So after a few years in the house we decided to sell it and move to the country! Way out in the country! We built a log home which we loved but lived in only a year and then sold it. It was too far out and we spent lots of time in commute to our jobs.

After I divorced, I bought an English Tudor home. Quite cute ,but it never felt like home to me. Since I have recently remarried and living in a ranch style 1980's home, I have started to realize something very important. Home is where you are happy. It doesn't matter what type of home, or where it is located or even if it is old or new. Home is about the happiness felt inside of it. Home is when you take off your shoes and sigh a breath of relief, because you are there. It is a place of love, comfort and joy. Home is an integral part of your being, a feeling you cannot buy or sell.

I have had some very nice places to live in my lifetime, but only one real home and that is where I am right now.

Have a wonderful Sunday afternoon and enjoy the place where you are!