Thursday, February 26, 2009

~A house or a home?~

I'm just musing here...

TLC has a new program called My First Home (which I have only seen advertisements for). The advertisements for the program show people telling why it is so important to them to own a home. Some of them have pretty shallow reasons - "so my son will have a place to remember". You know what? If you only rent all your life, your children aren't going to look back and have a blank spot in their memories when it comes to their home life. It really doesn't take owning a house to have a home.

Kevin and I do own our house - but we had a home long before we owned a house! I have many fond memories of our first home together. It was a tiny 500 square foot apartment. It had the smallest kitchen I've ever had, and the largest bedroom closet we've ever had. The apartment was old, the oven could have blinded me one day due to an electrical problem, the walls were thin and the neighbors were noisy. But it was our home. I happily cooked and cleaned and we had company over and we spent many happy hours together in our home.

I do think TLC's program ought to be named "My First House"...because it doesn't take buying a house to have a home!

10 comments:

Susan said...

Couldn't agree with you more! Out of 24 years of marriage, we only owned a house 8 of those. If owning a home was the only way to **have** a home, we'd have had a pretty unhappy life for the other 16 years!

I like to watch House Hunters on HGTV, but sometimes I wonder just what people are thinking. I see single women wanting a 3-bedroom, 2-bath house - why? It's all about having the biggest and newest. There are millions of us living happily with what we can afford, and it isn't new or big, but it's home.

Joyce's Ramblings said...

A house isn't always a home in this crazy world.
People make homes whether it be in a mansion or a shack. And some of the best memories are how you managed in that home. Making Do can be Making Memories.

Tori Leslie said...

Sadly having a house doesn't really mean anything. We have rented almost 16 of the 18 years we have been married and I honestly can't tell the difference other than with a house there is a lot more responsibility and less free time for family.

I'll just wait for my mansion!!

Amy ~ (Life's Small Treasures) said...

So true!!! I have so many fond memories of the year we spent in our first apartment together as a family it sounds a bit like your first home ;).

Something I read once was kids don't care how much you give them, just how much you love them, and I think that is so true. We live in a small home together as a family, but my kids know we love them, and would do anything for them.

Hope all is going well with your pregnancy, not long now.

Have a great day
~Amy

jen said...

Great post-couldn't agree with you more!

Your story reminded me of my first home with hubby- a basement rental-

it was the biggest kitchen we've ever had and I miss it! I'd love to have it now in the house we own-I was so proud of it -took pics of it so I will always remember it-
it didn't matter that we didn't "own " it persay-it was still our home-

Regards-

Jennifer

Anonymous said...

Hi Tammy,

So very true -- whether you own or rent; it's still your home. A show like this probably gives a lot of people the idea that you don't really have a "true" home unless you own. How very sad. Home is what we make it.

Take Care,

Trixie

Anonymous said...

Very well stated! HOme is where hearth and heart are, not who pays the mortgage. :)

Home can be a motor-home, a cabin, or a tent. It can be a rental or owned.

Memories are built wherever you call home, and it is up to us to make home "homey"--the name on the deed doesn't do it.

Barbara said...

I agree. A house is just a structure, but it's love that makes a place a home whether it's big, small, rented, or owned. Home is that safe place where you are always loved and where all your family memories are made.

Anonymous said...

Your first apartment sounds exactly like ours- 500 sq ft, tiny kitchen, big bedroom closet. Weird!
Anyway, I totally agree with what you're saying!

lauramichelle79 said...

AWWWW Tammy you are so right. Russell and I are still in our first Home, an old small Rental Single Wide Trailer. It may not be the house I dream of but it is our home full of love that maybe some day Lord willing we will be able to share with a child should the Lord bless us so. i love our little home and will look back on it with fondness should we ever move