The rooms in my house

Over the weekend I packed away the holiday decorations. Up in the attic, as I shifted a box marked Autumn to make room for the bag with silk poinsettias, the thought struck me that the attic is really a waiting room. Things stored there are waiting to be used or repurposed, sorted, given away, passed on or discarded. Every home needs a waiting space because we cannot use everything all the time and need to have a space that honors life's transitions. If the attic is the waiting room, what really are the other rooms in the house?

In my current home, the traditional living room is a comfortable large place full of nice furniture, but I do very little living in it. Weeks can go by and all I do is dust, water the plants and walk through to get the mail. It is more of a showroom, a formal spot for company, or where people visit occasionally before moving into the dining room. Mostly when friends come over we gather around the dining room table so the kitchen/ dining area is the sharing space where meals are consumed and talking, listening, laughter and tears happen. Communal and individual art are created at that table and games are played. 

I spend most of my time in the cozy den. My bookcase is in there so it is my reading room for learning and enjoyment, and the TV makes it my entertainment center. Since I do my PT exercises there it is also my activity facility. Even though there is a sofa bed in the room it is not my rest hub, although it does contain my meditation corner and sort of an altar space. My resting place remains the bedroom where the closet is the seasonal fashion (or lack thereof) nook.

Thinking about space with this different slant made me also contemplate other human needs. We all need a place or ways in which we are physically touched, be it erotic, comfort, a passionate or friendly holding of hands. For some, then the rest hub becomes a playground or a different type of sharing space. For others, there is a greenhouse enabling hands in soil and the nurturing of growing things. There are pets for stroking in any room and welcome and farewell hugs in the foyer. We need a reality check place, whether it is the kitchen table where bills are paid or the scale in the bathroom. Various work areas like the kitchen counter and laundry tub are required and some might need a larger workout area than what my den provides.

Most of the spaces mentioned so far are inward facing so there needs to be an outward spot, more than a window allowing us to see the world beyond our four walls. Perhaps it is the visitor’s chair in whatever room or the door that opens to the outside.

I’ve enjoyed this exercise in rethinking the standard room names. Let me know what I’ve missed!

Marilyn