Layers

We’re hosting Thanksgiving, as we do every year. It’s one of my favorite meals to make (and eat). Our daughters, Mackenzie and Talee, love the  tradition of Thanksgiving in our home. This time there will be eighteen of us, sharing a wonderful meal and giving thanks.

I want everyone to sit in the dining room, so I’m adding tables and working on different seating arrangements. My fall tablecloths, candles, and glittered leaves will help transform the room for our bountiful feast.

As I was cleaning and decluttering this past weekend, I thought about the years  it’s taken to create our home the way my husband and I envisioned it to be. It’s changed to meet our needs as our family grew. We’ve renovated and added our touches to the house, bit by bit. But it’s always had the basic foundation we started with.

Once I heard an interior designer say, “The best way to decorate is in layers.” First is the paint and floors. Then furniture, rugs, window treatments, and lighting. Last is personal touches, like paintings, mirrors, family photographs, and treasures found in our travels.

It takes time to arrange those layers. And once we do, we might leave it the same way forever, or we might change it up every six months. My family and I have lived in our home for sixteen years. We’ve painted  the walls several different colors, have bought new furniture, sold furniture that outgrew our style, and have even altered the way we use certain rooms.

It’s kind of like life. We grow, learn, and change many times. I guess it’s the opposite of peeling back layers of an onion. It’s more like adding different dimensions to the people we are.

The foundation is our family and childhood. Then we branch out, and add new layers. Our education, faith, relationships, and health all mix together to form us.

It takes years to develop into the people we strive to be. And just when we think we’re there, something happens. A different career, a marriage starting or ending, a birth, an illness, or a death.

A renovation is underway. Another layer is being created.

We’re in different phases of life, but all of us are works in progress. The transformation never ends. When one layer is complete, another begins.  That’s the beauty in living.

First image courtesy of: http://www.leesvilletaproom.com/gorgeous-thanksgiving-tablescapes/

Second image courtesy of: http://2010-2014.commerce.gov/blog/2011/11/23/thanksgiving-day-november-24-2011