I read this article with interest, because I admit, our home is rarely ever that ‘perfectly spotless’ home.

My House Is Messy — and I Don’t Care


http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4853787

Sometimes I get frustrated, and I try to figure out WHY we can’t seem to have a home that looks as lovely as other people’s homes…

Then I look around at WHAT the mess is and it’s always due to projects and other worthwhile things.

Always.

Whether Elsa’s in the process of baking & decorating her cupcakes, Shaylah has her felting supplies out, Julia or I are cutting fabrics, or Alesia has her shoes in the way by the door between coming home from work and heading out to see her man.

My pretty antique tea cart holds my husbands paperwork and our bills.

The nice bookshelf near our dinning table is always stuffed to overflowing with our school books, writings, and art work.

My kitchen counter is cluttered with jars of apple cider vinegar in the making, iodine and other animal first aid supplies, and always.always.always dishes. LOTS of dishes because 8 people live here and we cook AND eat here 3 times every day.

We LIVE in our home, almost every hour of every day.

One day, it won’t be this way. There will no longer be the mess of meals made for eight. I get a small ‘taste’ of this already now that our eldest son works away from home 2 weeks at a time and our eldest daughter spends about every second weekend at her boyfriend’s family home.

These kids grow up fast. I’ve always had a deep understanding of that fact. Yet they still grow up even faster than I could have imagined.

Just the other day, I gave birth to twins. Those bitty babies are 14 now, and in grade 10! Just the other day we had five children 8 & under. The last 3 were born within 22 months.
Those five kids are 22, 20, 16, 14 & 14 now and we’ve added a an extra, a 15 year old into the mix, just for fun!

Just the other day I would take my five little children for walks to the library, holding my three little ones hands with my two hands. Always a hand short, but it never mattered. I have two hands, but 10 fingers. Often Shaylah & Julia would each hold tight to a finger on one hand, and Elsa would hold onto my other hand. All while Alesia and Joshua would walk alongside, or ride their bikes.

Just the other day, we taught those big kids to ride those bikes! Those two big kids are REALLY big kids now, and not really kids at all any more.

They will always be my ‘babies’.

So yes, there is mess.
Every.Day.

But I look at the mess, ponder it, and there’s none of the mess I could or would choose to loose.

One day the mess will be gone and I’ll miss it soon enough.