Homemaking

You don't fully realize the importance of a home until you go so long without one. When I say "home," I don't necessarily mean the place you grew up, or the place your parents live. I mean a home, as in anyone's home. Not anyone's house...but someone's home.

Let me clarify what a home is. A home is a place you can relax. A home is cozy and welcoming. It smells good--like candles or laundry or a freshly cooked meal, or all of the above. It it comfortable--never too hot, never too cold. Homes can host parties and entertain large groups of people. Homes can also be intimate and one-on-one. Homes are places of escape. Places where you can cook and nap and chill out and pray and be alone but never be lonely. Homes are family embodied in a dwelling.

Let me clarify what a home is not. A home is not a dorm. At home is not a single room over which you sometimes have no temperature control. A home is not place that forbids open windows. A home is not a microwavable dinner heated in a microwave. A home is not "Feather Soft" toilet paper. A home is not jeans worn 7x due to lack of laundry quarters.

I don't hate dorm life at all. In fact, I've rather enjoyed it for the past 3 years, and I wouldn't take it back for anything. But this semester, I've longed so badly to live in a home--to make a home. Some nights I waste precious gas because my car is the only place I can truly be alone. A few weeks ago, I stayed the weekend at a friend's house. She fed me delicious wheat cereal in a beautiful blue bowl. It was delicious. The next time I went grocery shopping, I splurged and bought the cereal (my friend refers to any cereal that comes in a box as "fancy cereal." Most cereal in the price-range of college students only comes in bags, and is consisted primarily of sugar). I couldn't wait to eat it. When I ate it for dinner, however, it wasn't as good as it was at my friend's house. At first I checked to make sure I got the right kind of cereal. Then I realized what was wrong: I was eating out of a green plastic bowl. The next day, I bought a glass bowl.

All this to say, my dorm days are (finally) coming to an end. Yesterday I signed a lease on my first-ever apartment. A full-size bed. My own bedroom. My own space. A bathroom shared with only one other person. A kitchen where I can cook real food. A window I can open. A real sink I can wash dishes in (in fact, even a dishwasher! Whoa). A couch. Walls to decorate with real decorations (not posters and plain photos). I place where I can relax and unwind. I place where I can pray and cry and dance and be alone and be surrounded by others. And more importantly, a place where I can make a home to my friends in dorms who don't have a place to get away.

University Commons Apartment 109C, I can’t wait to spend my senior year with you.