This is another recycled piece of writing. One I enjoyed writing more than most. In another round the question game with a friend, I asked, "If you could build a house, what would it be like?" After watching the architecture of their house come together with words, I built one of my own.
If I could build a house now, it would be in a place where I could be near the ocean and in the mountains. Probably somewhere in Maine. It would be in a small town, maybe built around a lake in the mountains... where everyone's house backs up onto their docks on the lake. And you can swim looking at the mountains. It would be New England style with a high roof and wood floors... and bay windows. And there would be a room in the house that would look out to the mountains or over the ocean and it would be full of huge windows. The walls would be lined with them. And in it would be my piano and it’s there that I would write music. And the kitchen would have yellow walls. There would be an oak table. And red couches.
I want to have my home decorated with pieces from other people's stories. I like to re-use beauty. I think it makes me feel like the quality in the decor is not synthetic. I want to have paintings hanging in my house that my friends have done. My room will be green, the same green as the lichen that grows on the maple trees in Maine. And I want my house to be lived in. I want the guests who come in to feel like they live there too. I want my kitchen to constantly be full of people, cooking together, eating together. I want a big kitchen for that. With blue tile counters, that I have to clean every night so that they aren't smeared, but when they're clean, they're the color of a mountain lake. Deep blue, reflecting the ceiling. I want floral plates- they won't match. I'll buy them from all over. It will be a collection of recycled beauty.
I want a room whose focal point is a giant map on the wall. I want pictures and artifacts from everywhere I've been to be in this room. Maybe it will be my children's room so that they will always remember the value of exploration. No, it will be the library. Where I keep all my books. My children’s room will be white. They will be allowed to decorate the walls with their dreams and their favorite super heroes, their best art attempts. Because my children will know that what they create and what they dream is more important than having me decorate their rooms for them. And that their creativity is more beautiful than my inspiration to decorate. They will absolutely have a loft in their room. It will be their pirate ship, their fort, their stage, their space shuttle. Just like it was for my brother and I.
The windows in my house will always be kept open. I want to always remember that the world is bigger than my reality. And I want extra rooms, each with their unique qualities. Because I want enough room to give people who don't have a home a place to stay, or those without people to love, a family. Single mothers without a roof will find a home in mine. Missionaries, friends, neighbors, travelers and strangers.
The backyard will be unkempt. Or, it might be a lake. I don't know. But, it will be the source of many adventures. And it will be wild, because I love nature. And I want to see it in an explosion of freedom in my backyard- not untidy, just untamed.
Lastly. I want a red front door. It is the passage-way to bold adventures, so it deserves an electric color.