31 Days Of House To Home

David tells a story that goes something like this...

There was once an elderly Jewish couple with many children and they all lived in a one room house.  The man and his wife were so crowded and unhappy in their little house that they went to their rabbi to ask him what to do.  The rabbi said "Go and get a horse and move it into the house with you."  So the couple went and they bought a horse.  After a week the house was even worse than it was before so they went back to the rabbi. "Bring a cow into the house, too." he said.  The couple took his advice, moved in a cow, and after a week the house was awful and they couldn't stand it.  They went back to the rabbi again and he said "Go get a pig and move that in."  Back the couple went and moved a pig into the house.  After a week they went back to the rabbi and said "This is awful.  The house is terrible.  What do we do?"  The rabbi said "Now you're ready for the solution.  Move all the animals out."

Do you see where I'm going with this?

My house is small.  I mean quite small.  Small enough that I can hear Samuel turn over in his bed at the other end of the house.  Small enough that we need one smoke detector.  We have no basement, no attic; my bathroom linens are stored in the kitchen cabinets; my washer and dryer are in the entry way.  When I say small, I mean small.  But do you know what makes it seem big and spacious?  When something leaves.

I figure I rarely really need more space, what I really need is less stuff.  And so every once in a while I get rid of something big, or even something little.  I wander around the house with a garbage bag and suddenly there's room!  Light!  Air!

Space!