One of the benefits of frequent travel for work is the joy of coming home. I don't just mean the sweet relief of landing at the Atlanta airport- side note, flying home to Altanta on Friday afternoon/evening-forget about it! I mean the welcoming comfort of your home, your own space.
My home has a laundry list of needed repairs and home improvement from the cosmetic (paint, tile to be put in place) to the more urgent (gutters need replaced, basement water damage, stupid ants- sorry my Buddhist tendencies only go so far.) Lets not even get started on the backyard and unfinished laundry room. It is enough for several HGTV shows and a fantasy come true for a diehard do it yourself home improvement fan. Some of the work is a hold over from my long ended marriage (ex was a contractor) and some of it is just the wear and tear of owning a 25 plus year old house. So the complaining is finished, the point of this rambling is actually that there is still no place like home.
When I divorced, I kept the house and all related debt for several reasons. I live in an amazing neighborhood with neighbors who are like family and friends who actually support and care for one another. I also wanted to give my daughters who were quite young at the time - 2 and 6 - the sense of stability that remaining in their home would bring them. With the subsequent housing bust - this may not have been the smartest financial move of my life. But it felt right and still does. Like so many, I will not be moving anytime soon- in the current market with what I would need to invest in the house to fix it up to sell - I would owe more than I would make.
I love making a house a home and have had the incredible fortune of being able to open whatever home I have lived in at the time to friends and family when they needed a place to stay. I have been blessed in that way. Makes me realize that a home is so much more than an investment or a project. I am truly lucky to have a place to go home to at all.
Even with all of the work my house needs, it is still mine (OK I share that ownership with Citimortgage) and my kids. It is still the place in which we laugh, cook, eat, sleep, celebrate, play and disagree. Even Lily, who has many opinions about what needs to be done (new deck doors, yard is embarrassing, pressure wash needed, paint, rug in family room) looks forward to getting back home after being away.
So there is no place like home sweet home. I celebrate you - my leaky, work in progress and realize that I am blessed.
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