The Choices We Make

This past week has been one for us, where we seem to be weighing out the disadvantages and advantages of moving into a bigger, greater possibility kind of house. The size is appealing and the investment aspect, but no land ! And then we would have a mortgage payment for a few years and much higher monthly expenses since it got all electric heat and then in summer air conditioners, two huge units to cool the house. So here we are, not far away from Emery retiring and have almost no monthly bills and considering purchasing a house that will cost us lots more a month for at least three years while we pay it off and then after that have utility bills that are many times greater than what we have here and again, no land for goats or a garden. Yes, we could still keep the goats here and the garden but that's just not the same.
I was talking to a friend of mine about it and she was saying things like, "oh you are going to buy it aren't you ?" Nice house, bigger and you can have it looking nice (I kinda was insulted, did she mean my present house doesn't look nice) Then I thought, whoaaaa, this is the same woman that has to have everything perfect. She has worked multiple jobs for years just so she can have things...yes, things. Her three children have nothing to do with her because she is such a stressed out perfectionist. Her health is suffering from all the stress of working so hard for so many years and to be honest she is worn out. So, then the phrase came to me....."from whence it comes..." I thought, just her advice alone is enough to make me skip happily through my old, not perfect, bedroom not finished house and shout for joy. We have made a life with almost no stress, plenty of time for family and friends. Children who love this house and will always feel like its home for them. I can walk outside and hear the birds singing in the trees by the garden and work to the music of nature. The floors in the house creek in a familiar way and the back door slams shut like a proper old farm house. I will smile a contented smile thinking about how it costs us a whopping $70 to heat this house this winter and our last gas bill was $22.
I will sit with a deep joy as I look down the long hallway and remember children running in to share something amazing they discovered while outside playing.
I will also plan for retirement years without worry or stress and with delightful loving children around us and Grandchildren that bring such great joy....
Naw, I don't want a big house that will end up being worth lots of money, I would rather have my muddy floor in the back hall and a banging screen door....
(honestly though, I am looking forward to the back porch being built so the muddy floor is one room further from my kitchen, so I don't have to wash the hall floor so many times a week !)