The Best Room in the House

It's another beautiful day in sunny Arizona, I was doing a little spring cleaning the other day, and living in the desert does require you to dust at least once a week before it gets out of hand, when I started thinking how my homes have changed over the years. It may be no surprise that Tim and I were in the Army. It’s where we met, we got married in the Chapel on the Presidio of Monterrey, and three of our children were born on Army bases.   Each time we moved was a change, a new address, a new street, and a new home.

It got me thinking about what part of our home did we enjoy the most? What was it about the house that made it a home? There were the bedrooms which were always full of toys, clothes and the constant echoes of me trying to get four boys to keep their rooms clean. That was much like to herding cats. Those were safe havens for the kids.  Our bedroom was the one place where we could go and try to be alone. The bedrooms weren’t my favorite rooms in the house, however.

Next, I thought about the living room.  Every night we would sit together as a family, Tim in his rocking chair, me on the couch with one of the boys next to me and the other three boys sitting on the floor in front of the TV.  The lights would be out and the soft glow of the television would halo their faces as they sat enraptured over which ever show we were watching that night.  It was close, and maybe we felt like this is what made the living room a home, but that wasn’t it for me.

To me, it was the dining room, more specifically the dinner table. After Tim had finished cooking dinner, which he loves to do, he would set it on the table and yell out “Let’s Eat!” the sound of four pairs of feet would clatter through the entire house as four boys raced to sit at the table, say grace, and begin to enjoy that evenings meal.

It was there that we would talk, share news of the day, talk about what their friends were doing, what they did in school, what girls they liked, what dances were going to be held at school.   We would talk about work, about plans for the future and about everything under the sun. It connected us, so much more than watching TV ever did. Nowadays we sit at the table and look at four empty chairs hoping each of our sons are enjoying meals with their families, getting those same feelings we had when we raised them.

As always if you’re looking for a place to share a meal with your loved ones please contact Tim or Gayle Kendrick at 602-819-6300, look us up at www.AZWestre.com on Facebook at http://on.fb.me/AZHomes or stop by and see our blog at http://azwestre.blogspot.com/