Monday 1 August 2011

home?

i really do have an awful lot to say. there are so many things to share with you - stories of our wedding and honeymoon and of visiting family and of wedding receptions. of packing my life into boxes and suitcases, and then trying to unpack and settle into a new house, a new area of melbourne, a new married life. there are stories and pictures and tales a mile long. but for now, with this dodgy borrowed internet and a brief snatch of time, the things i want to say are different. 

see, i've been thinking a lot recently about how you make a house a home... for me, this has been harder than i would have expected. harder than i ever remember it being. i've moved lots of times, but never before struggled to feel at home. 

when we first moved in here, i thought it would be about having your stuff, familiar things, unpacked and put away. things you've had for years out and in use. but i am realising that it is deeper than that. each box we've unpacked and put away, for me, hasn't made this house feel any more like ours. 
 
then i was thinking it would be about living in the space. but we've been here 5 weeks now, and although it does feel more like home. it still doesn't feel like ours. i still don't quite feel comfortable in this space. i feel a bit like i am all elbows and knees and my clothes are too big and i'm wearing somebody else's shoes. i feel a bit like we're living in the in between. 

so yesterday i tried a different tack - i got outside and stuck my fingers in the dirt and planted this:

a rosemary bush. a solid thing. and maybe as it settles in and puts its roots down, we too will spread our roots deeply here and feel at home.

what about you? what makes you feel at home?

3 comments:

Kelly Ingram said...

Making a house, a home, takes time. It's where your story unfolds, and will evolve with you. But to help things along, I always find have photos up, as well as having splashes of my favourite colours around the place, really helps.
And congratulations on your marriage too!

Sandrine said...

Yes we moved in our house 3 months ago and oh it takes time to get that homy feel!I planted some rosemary too and lots of flowers and plants and herbs:)Have fun!xx

Gina said...

Looking forward to hearing more of your tales.

As for home...? I definitely have struggled to feel at home and put down roots in any newly-built or pre-fab kind of place we've lived in, whereas anything that's older than, say, 30 years, with a bit of character, I manage to settle into more quickly. Because I don't feel like I'm supposed to have some weird blandtastic aesthetic, where everything is porridge-coloured and stark. Are you living in an old or new place? I reckon plants are good - and perhaps a few bunches of flowers now and then indoors!

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