These Dreams

I've been dreaming big. Really big. I've been dreaming of owning a big house - big by my standards at least - that could be home to us and some extended family too. I've been dreaming of space. I've been longing to live where everything has a place. I've been feeling cramped, frustrated, and even hindered from family life by the space we live in now.

John and I bought our house when we were 21 years old. It was intentioned to be a starter home. The price was right, the location was safe and convenient and there was just the two of us. It worked. I might have grumbled some about only one bathroom, or the laundry facilities being in the kitchen, but overall, it worked. Then when we should have been ready to step-up, before having kids, we just were not prepared. Two became three + three dogs. When we got our financial state in order, the housing market tanked. Then the possibility of the in-laws moving across the street popped up and became reality, and so we've stayed put. Eleven + years we've lived in our five year house.

We're spreading out of the dreaming phase and moving towards making it happen. It might take 2 years, but We're going to get there. Not for the status, not for the looks, but for the freedom. We want the freedom to have room to move and live and play without necessary stuff always being in the way. We want the freedom to help and be helped by making this home multigenerational.

I want to walk in the door and feel love and peace rather than pangs of claustrophobia and frustration. Someday, maybe sooner than I once thought, these dreams will be our reality.