Sunday Sentiments

 

We’ve lived in our home almost exactly nine months now, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how many things fit this space so perfectly. Mom even commented on that the last time she visited. We made very few changes in furniture when we came here, because almost everything we had worked!

            The one room change we made in this move was going from three bedrooms to two. We combined the guest room and office – as many people do, and we were able to make things work fairly neatly.

            Until recently, that is.

            My actual workspace, which is in our kitchen, has been a perfect fit for me. I have a place for everything I need, plenty of room to spread out for projects, and the view is unparalleled. That part feels just right.

            But I use the guest/room office for overflow storage, and as I settle into my job more, I find more things I need to have on hand (some in bulk) and I’ve run out of usable space for those items. There’s room in there. I just knew I needed to reconfigure for it to be more functional.

            I’ve been scouring Pinterest, looking for ideas, and trying to figure out how to rearrange the room so we can maximize the use of that space to its fullest.

            And this weekend, during a brainstorming session with Ryan about that very space, we determined that maybe what really would work best is to stop devoting 75% of the space to guest room items when, in truth, we rarely have overnight guests. Maybe the smarter thing to do is make it an office that can function as a guest room when needed rather than making it a guest room that holds office overflow…and rarely any guests.

            The freedom that flowed over me when we finally came to this conclusion surprised me. I didn’t realize how much the whole thing had been frustrating me until the idea of a solution came out of our conversation.

            It will probably be a while before our talk makes its way into reality, but just the hope of practical change on the horizon is huge for me, and I’m grateful.

            I realize that the purpose of a bedroom in our home does little to impact your day, but I hope from this story you’ll see that it’s good to have the conversations. It’s helpful to dream the dreams. It’s freeing to imagine a solution. Like I said earlier this week – it’s okay to make a change.

            Ryan and I had another conversation yesterday – about something entirely different – that led us to brainstorm how to use some waiting time in our story so that it’s the most fruitful and productive it can be. I loved that talk too. Maybe, more than anything, I appreciate the support we can offer each other as we think through the things that work and the things that don’t work. I appreciate the way we can encourage each other through talking over solutions to the problems at hand.

            I hope you’ll find this in your life today…this week…this month. Find someone to talk to about your dreams, your hopes, your ideas. Brainstorm together to find solutions. And embrace the freedom that comes from knowing good things could be just around the corner!