Perfection....

My last post got me thinking about something else....Leading a simple country life. Maybe I should have been born in Mayberry. I would've been happy there!

There are times that I feel like what I have isn't good enough in some people's opinions. We live in an older house, the lawn is not beautifully landscaped, the inside is not expensively decorated, we drive older vehicles...We even have a lopsided pool :o) Most would say we don't have much....and ya know what? I'm finally ok with that. In Fact, I prefer some of the little non-perfect things that we have.

I suppose everyone's idea of perfection is different but I have always LOVED old country houses. The ones that look like people are truely LIVING in them. They have charm and a story behind them. These pictures are beautiful to me:

Look at the one below. Most people would see a weathered house, not worthy of living in. I see two rocking chairs on the porch, where a "Granny" and "Papaw" sit and relax in the evening. They've probably lived there for many many years....And at one point I'll bet their home was filled with many small children - making messes, climbing trees, spilling things, laughing, fighting, playing, working....There's so much to see in this picture!

And even this one, which is the one that WE temporarily call HOME:

That is where my family plays and laughs and argues and catches lightening bugs. Thats the tree my kids climb, and behind that is the red wooden swing that we swing on in the evenings! That is where we make memories that will someday be very special to our children.

At some point in the future, maybe I'll have a different home - But for now we are happy. We aren't worried that a few of the pine tree branches were cut to make playhouses. We don't notice because we are too busy having fun together in the crooked pool - and quite honestly, I don't even mind the occasional mud puddles in our driveway because without them, my children wouldn't experience the joy of doing THIS:

And I could never live in the city again, because I would miss having THIS to look at from my back yard hammock:

I see my childhood home often. It's right down the road from us and I have already promised myself that I will find a way to buy it if I ever see a for sale sign. My Grandparents say it looks awful...and it does. But I want it. My Grandpa built it himself - How awesome would it be to raise your children in a house that their Great Grandpa built? One that their Mommy and Grandparents AND even Great Grandparents lived in!! That means so much more than the fixable imperfections that we see with our eyes.

I love the song below. So many times I've wondered how the owners would feel if I asked to walk around the yard, or even inside the house. Maybe they'd call the police and tell them a weirdo was on their doorstep :o) Like the song says, as we grow older we deal with hard things, we get hurt emotionally and we become different people because of those things. When I drive by the old house, I remember a carefree child whose biggest worry was whether to eat, swim or chase ducks off the back patio. So, when I heard this song, it immediately became a favorite. That house on route 83 is "The House that Built Me".