what I like about our new home

Hello, how are you doing?  I hope you have a lovely home to live in.  Ming and I are newly snug, living in a housing co-op in Oregon for three weeks now.  I made this St Brigid’s cross out of lavender as an art gift blessing for the house.  Here’s a poem about what I like about our new home.

what I like about our new home

I like seeing bits of paint at the edges of electrical outlet covers and imagining what the room looked like that previous shade.

I like how the garden beds are laid out, where the soft-stemmed lavender grows, the best mint, the thick-leaved rosemary.

The Ganesha wall hanging at the foot of the stairs blesses me and removes obstacles every time I pass by.  Thank you to the Kind One who put it there.

I like conversation in the kitchen, seeing other people care, and singing to the oregano in its little cleared patch of sacred in the garden.

I like how everyone cooks.  What it sounds like when the heat pumps comes on, and warmth enters the rooms.

The house smells good.  I like how my weepy appreciation is welcome.

I like the books.  And pondering the weird floor in the half-bathroom.  How did it get that way?  Who thought that was a good idea?

I like the distant train I hear in the cold morning.

I like going to Friends meetings with our housemate, feeling the different configurations of alliances, extending love, and seeing what happens.

Learning where the brooms are.  Playing with daydreams, I ponder the prices of the rooms, feeling the possibility of staying a long time.

I like how my fat body is welcome here.  The stairs are so solid, and respect is everywhere.

respect

Yes, the respect is a central important part.  Feels great to give and receive.

And respect is different per person, right?  What one person sees as respectful could be totally different from another person.  Depending on temperament, trauma, culture, values, history between the people, moods even.

So we need to know one another, with the care to inquire and the intelligence to understand.  And this is a smart house.  It reminds me of that Dorothy Day quote.

poems

I hope to write many love poems over the years, as what I like about our new home changes.  The beginning part is special.  But the middle part and end part will be special too.