Home is Good

Some time ago during a particularly crazy week, I made a comment to a friend who was also having one of those weeks that home is good even when it's hard. While those words were really meant to encourage her along the path she has chosen, they keep coming back to me on a regular basis as I ponder the things that are good about home.

There are days that being part of a family just couldn't get any better and days when I wonder just what I signed up for. There are days when the rhythm just clicks along with perfect timing and days when chaotic doesn't even come close to describing the day. There are days when my role as a wife and a parent (or a daughter and a sister) are simple and easy and days when the role is difficult to define and the job is just plain hard.

Yet, we move and breathe, live and love, laugh and cry together. Together we own it all - the good, the bad, and the ugly. When life is good, we celebrate together. When life isn't fair, we cry together. When gray days make us feel blue, there is someone to bring in the sunshine. When the work is hard, there is someone to cheer us on. When attitudes are ugly, there is someone to steer us back. When one falls down, there is someone to help us up. Alone it is hard to stand, but as a unit we can stand anything.

So even as I long for the days when the rhythm of our life is a steady beat, days when little people don't need constant reminders about everything, days when the house is in order and evenings that are calm and peaceful, I realize that the beat of our life is noisy, full of love and lots of reminders, often chaotic, but also full of sweet memories. More than anything, the rhythm is ours.

I know that whether the next day is picture perfect, insanely crazy, or somewhere in between, it will be our day. And I know that home is good even when it's hard.