More on Relationships

After reading the Christmas post, I remember a poem of sorts I wrote a couple of years back about our blended family. Here it is:

This House

A lot of living has gone on in this house.

A lot of toilets have been flushed. A few have been clogged.

The old wooden floors have been pounded by the feet of grown-ups and children, friends and neighbors.

How many times was I sure the equity was being stomped out splinter by splinter?

A lot of living has gone on in this house.

More than one can of soup has been poured in a pot on the stove to simmer.

Ethan baked more cookies than I can count.

And, many pans of sweet rolls have sent the smell of cinnamon into Sunday kitchen air to catch unwary early risers. Never a burned finger. More than one thank you. And, I don’t feel one bit more tired today for those half hours I slipped out of bed a bit earlier.

A lot of living has gone on in this house.

The doorbell has been rung by every neighborhood kid and solicitor.

Halloween candy, the Christmas wreaths and the old, torn mat have shared the seasons on the front porch.

I can still hear Ethan’s clubs clank as he headed out for his first golf tournament.

Water balloon fights and paintball matches, car washes and early morning cans to the curb, boy-scalped lawns and candlelit family dinners have all graced this yard.

The back door frame holds the human ruler marking the growth spurts of youth and the lack thereof in maturity. It’s the only spot where we all squeeze together in one 24" space.

Harvey’s fingerprints have signed every wall and ceiling, every door and its frame.

Three kids would lay stacked like cordwood on Harvey’s bed in impassioned video game bliss.

Arguments and hugs with low-tone I love you’s, bickering and cajoling still ring in the hallway.

The north end of the dining room still holds Katy’s heart as she crossed her arms in defiance and sometimes gave her every effort to please and understand as she learned to read. Somehow, I think this is where she truly learned how much I care.

Echo ghosts roam about in the silence.

A lot of living has gone on in this house.

A lot of living will go on in other houses.

They will take this living with them.

It’s just a house.

By Paul Reynolds, the morning after Harvey and Katy went to Grandma and Grandpa’s and Mom and Ethan went to Japan. Thoughts on having to sell the house to pay legal bills. 6/18/2006