Francophile morning
Maybe it was the french champagne last night or it might even be the new dishes Emery gave me for Christmas along with the French decorating books I found under the Christmas tree this year that transformed me into full blown Francophile this morning. Breakfast of a baguette with melted brie and of course some good french roast coffee from
la Madeleine
This morning I even took a test to see if I was indeed a francophile. The results came back as... You answered oui ! on 8 items out of 10. Oui ! Vous êtes Francophile ! Now I must admit that this is nothing new to me nor is it something contstant. I am changable and proud of it. I love to explore life, to go with the mood. To "live spherically" as I love to quote from the movie, "Under the Tuscan Sun". Thinking about what Christa the Commentor wrote this week, about how inconsistent I am, makes me smile....How proud I am of being inconsistent. I embrace my inconsistencies and never want to put my life in a box. How limiting ! How stale and boring to never reach out and explore another avenue. Emery asked me this morning if I would like a new house. Something more modern, bigger, roomier, and able to be decorated any way I would like. He was serious. It wasn't just some passing whim of his to ask. We have the money to. I thought about my new decorating books and envisioned the perfect French Country house. Sure, we live this simple life, but I am a woman and I do dream of grander things and a new house is a temptation. To be honest I haven't come up with an answer for him. This is home, this is where the children played with their Breyer horses in the living room and ran down the hall what seemed like a hundred times a day. This is the place that the boys called their first real home and where first dates came to pick up our girls. It has the kitchen that has turned out meals for the family for nearly 20 years. It is home. The screen door bangs in a familiar way and the floor in the hall squeaks when you try to tip toe. We can change this home to look any way we like, but it will always have low ceilings, floors that slope a bit. But, I love its imperfections..... most of the time. The offer of a new house is tempting, but not sure I want one. It will take some deep thought. This is home. But I am human and sometimes feel discontent and want something different than what I have, but never want a complicated life or anything apart from simple. These feelings of wanting something different may not last long, hard to tell, but even if it only lasts a moment, I feel no shame in owning them. Change is so often the place where great opportunities for growth come into our lives and dismissing the feelings that can lead to change may just rob us of something wonderful.
This morning I even took a test to see if I was indeed a francophile. The results came back as... You answered oui ! on 8 items out of 10. Oui ! Vous êtes Francophile ! Now I must admit that this is nothing new to me nor is it something contstant. I am changable and proud of it. I love to explore life, to go with the mood. To "live spherically" as I love to quote from the movie, "Under the Tuscan Sun". Thinking about what Christa the Commentor wrote this week, about how inconsistent I am, makes me smile....How proud I am of being inconsistent. I embrace my inconsistencies and never want to put my life in a box. How limiting ! How stale and boring to never reach out and explore another avenue. Emery asked me this morning if I would like a new house. Something more modern, bigger, roomier, and able to be decorated any way I would like. He was serious. It wasn't just some passing whim of his to ask. We have the money to. I thought about my new decorating books and envisioned the perfect French Country house. Sure, we live this simple life, but I am a woman and I do dream of grander things and a new house is a temptation. To be honest I haven't come up with an answer for him. This is home, this is where the children played with their Breyer horses in the living room and ran down the hall what seemed like a hundred times a day. This is the place that the boys called their first real home and where first dates came to pick up our girls. It has the kitchen that has turned out meals for the family for nearly 20 years. It is home. The screen door bangs in a familiar way and the floor in the hall squeaks when you try to tip toe. We can change this home to look any way we like, but it will always have low ceilings, floors that slope a bit. But, I love its imperfections..... most of the time. The offer of a new house is tempting, but not sure I want one. It will take some deep thought. This is home. But I am human and sometimes feel discontent and want something different than what I have, but never want a complicated life or anything apart from simple. These feelings of wanting something different may not last long, hard to tell, but even if it only lasts a moment, I feel no shame in owning them. Change is so often the place where great opportunities for growth come into our lives and dismissing the feelings that can lead to change may just rob us of something wonderful.
I love my new Bernardaud Cafe Paris dishes!
Comments
We have to move this year. My husband has a new job that starts at the end of the summer. I have given the move a great deal of thought because I love my house so much. It will be extremely hard to leave it.
But embracing change is part of the challenge. It can be an opportunity if you do - and if you decide to go with a new house, you can bring all the things you love with you -( I have been reassuring my children of this) and you can make the house suit you to a T - simplicity built right in, but a few special extras too that make it work for you. And your family will still be there, that most important part of your life. These are all the things I'm thinking about as I face the move I have to make.
So I'd say give it some deep consideration. You'll come up with the answer that's right for you, I know.
Have a blessed new year!
I like consistancy and the tried and true.
What a lovely offer from your husband though!!
Nouvelle année heureuse, mon ami !
I think we see patterns or themes in another's written or spoken words, whether it is an unknown [to us] published author, a blogger or someone we spend time with. We recognize a familiar train of thought or pondering, a repetition of behavior, and we may say [or think] "there she/he goes again!" If the person's style of writing/thinking/behaving really upsets us, we don't have to return to it and I can't think of too many reasons for defending that choice. If we find ourselves living in close contact with a person whose tangents are maddening, then maybe we have a problem.
I suspect that most of us remain true to some core values and attributes even when the outer trappings of lifestyle or belief/practice may undergo changes. How could we "grow up" without changing? Paul has a lot to say about the changes that have to occur in the Christian context of growth; growing and learning go hand in hand with change.
Many of the things we might dream of doing or changing will be just that--dreams entertained for awhile and put aside.
Wishing you and your family much happiness and love in the coming year!
Jackie