“No matter the kind of house, it is the living inside that makes it wonderful, what happens in each room that makes it marvelous…”

–Let’s Go Home

As I walk through our bedroom into the bathroom, I mentally inventory the scattered pieces of laundry yet to make their way to the hamper. In the bathroom I take note of the damp towels draping the side of the tub from last night’s bath. The collection of toys drying out on the counter. The toiletry bottles yet to be put away. And part of me cringes a little. The part that would really like everything to just look pretty and put together all the time.

Honestly, my natural personality makes it a feel like a challenge to enjoy my home sometimes. I tend to lean a little towards perfectionism, but realize that my house is not going to look perfect for quite awhile, or probably ever with any consistency.

I really enjoy the perspective of home in Let’s Go Home, a children’s book that explores a house, room by room, with busy illustrations, and narrations about the wonderful things that happen in it’s rooms. The description of the bathroom makes the messes seem almost purposeful. A warm reminder of the lives that frequent there.

“Believe it or not, a bathroom can be the most interesting room in a house. In a bathroom you can find out what people like to read or how they like to smell or whether or not their teeth are real… You can always tell if a child lives in a house by checking beside the tub. That’s where you’ll find the wind-up boats and the yellow ducky and the sponge that looks like a dinosaur…”

I will always appreciate order and organization. But motherhood is teaching me to appreciate the beauty in scattered puzzle pieces on the floor, for the joy they bring the little boy who played there. In the baby socks that we find all the places they landed after falling from little feet. In the piles of blankets and throw pillows that made their way off the couch. The corners filled with books we’ve read. The dishes in the sink that fed us. The shoes in the hallway that carried us home.

Because no matter the kind of house, it is the living inside that makes it wonderful.