The Most Important Thing to Have in Your Home

You won't find lots of Pinterest-worthy photos in this post, those that project a perfection that is rarely, if ever, attained.  There aren't any snapshots of styled vignettes or carefully thought out spaces to inspire you, to motivate you to get busy on your next project. Nope. Not here. Not in this post.

I'm not going to tell you that the most important thing for you to have in your home is a particular furniture piece. I'm not going to try to persuade you that it's keeping a stocked pantry, owning certain dishes and serveware so that you can entertain at the drop of a hat. I'm not even going to suggest the merit of organization. No. Not today. Those things just won't do.

While all of those I mentioned are good, even wonderful to have in your home, they are not what is most important. Not in the least. I'm going to suggest something else to you that we should all hold in higher regard than things. Something intangible and yet, somehow more so than anything you can grasp in your hands:

Memories

We've been in our home for three years and one month now. I was doing a little bit of thinking about all that has happened since we moved in. Yes, we have remodeled and painted. And painted again. We've slowly put our own stamp on this house we now call home. And while it does give me satisfaction to think of all the things we've done and how far we've come with remodeling and decorating, those aren't the things that I'm most fond of since we moved here. As I'm in this contemplative state, I'm not dwelling on new floors, light fixtures, and pillow covers. No. I'm relishing in all of the great memories we've made since moving here. The day we moved in, our youngest daughter turned four, our oldest daughter just a month from being six. This home, in it's fixer-upper state, was our blank canvas to not only paint with the latest color trend, but to paint our masterpiece of memories as we raise our children here. 

We've had a lot of milestones since we moved here. We've had a lot of big moments. Dance recitals, birthdays, and getting our first family dog....

But, I've come to realize that the small moments that come in between the big moments can be just as precious. Things like playing dress-up, being silly, and playing outside with our neighbor friends. Finding beauty in the everyday, the fleeting moments that make up our lives...

We've celebrated holidays, birthdays, had baby showers, family gatherings, and reunions. We've had barbecues, girl's nights, movie nights, and picnics on the floor. Many firsts have happened here: first days of school, first teeth lost, first friend sleepover. In the big moments and in the quiet ones,the candid and the planned, there are precious memories that now fill this place...

All of these memories are far more precious to me than any thing that I could buy, than any earthly treasure that I could place here. All of these memories, from sleepy Christmas morning faces to tea parties for dolls, are what I treasure and will treasure all of my life. 

These precious memories are truly, to me, the most important thing to have in your home. More important than expensive sofas, fancy artwork, or an ironstone collection that would make your grandmother proud. I think as long as we don't lose sight of that, we'll be doing okay.