It's Isn't the Place We Live That Makes it Home

My daughter and her family live in an apartment made of two tiny motel rooms.  In that little space they call home right now, live two parents, a two year old and a cat. A new baby is coming in Sept. The walls are crowded with the boxes and shelves that need to hold the stuff of daily living.  The kitchen's only cupboard is above the single sink.  The stove is a scary looking gas affair stuck off in what used to be a shower stall, and is blocked off from cats and kids. So, the only cooking is done with the microwave that sits on a little cupboard next to the fridge and makes the narrow space even narrower.  The bedroom is almost filled with the queen bed and toddler bed, with boxes to hold clothes and blankets.

I can't write about what it is like to live in a place like that, because it isn't my life.  I wish Lorene would because it would be interesting.  She's not a writer, and she just lives her life; she doesn't feel compelled to document it. (not like me)

So, here we come to visit. She's sitting on the front step with Zane in the pool that's on the little patch of weedy dirt between the building and the road.  It looks like the old stories I used to read about people living in the middle of New York City with NOTHING.  No space, no money, no nothing, making do with what little they have and being happy or not happy as they decide.  Just a cement stoop, broken siding, no grass, no light cover, peeling paint, odors coming through the heating vent, ugly carpet, ugly paint, old fixtures. 

The gravel drive is full of big holes that collect water when it rains, and it's been raining, a lot.

It isn't the best place and I don't think anyone would want to live there forever, but Zane doesn't care, and they make the best of it.  It is a place to be together.  And they are happy.



These photos are from a nice little "grilling hamburgers for supper" party they had with both sides of the family.

Even if you don't live in a very big place you can still have company and enjoy them.