Enjoying What You Have

Several weeks ago, I had the pleasure of guest posting at my dear friend
Joyce's blog , At Home With Jemma.
Before this post goes into the archives, I thought I would share it here at home. 

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 Many years ago , when my husband and I were first married and we moved into our first home- a garage apartment teetering on top of a carport in Kingsville,Texas-

we had the usual furnishings of that era:  
bookshelves made out of cinder blocks and boards, lots of stereo equipment and albums, college mementos,

and impractical (at that moment) wedding gifts.

I didn’t need to worry however, because within a day my mother of  White Spray Paint fame drove in from the ranch – her car loaded to the top- followed by my father pulling a cattle trailer.

Out of that cattle trailer came my white bedroom furniture, a couch and chair,a small dining table and two chairs, and lamps.

And then relatives arrived.

My Uncle Jerry laid carpet, my Aunt Sherry painted walls,

my Murchison cousins brought gifts, my grandparents brought all sorts of small appliances, all while my mother helped me make this simple, bare place into a home.

Also on that day, unknown to me because that was his way, my father had a side of butcher wrapped beef delivered to Gafford’s Meat Locker on 14th street as a gift to us.

I may not have been much of a cook then, but with that side of beef, we ate well.

I drove to Gafford's every other day or so, went into the meat locker section, and picked out what we were going to have that night.

It was usually round steak, Del Monte canned green beans, and a potato .

The message here for me, which is the ongoing message

of my blog White Spray Paint, is that it is about the simple things in life

 and enjoying what we have.

Whether it was years ago and my family was climbing those rickety garage apartment stairs bringing gifts, or it is something I enjoyed today while walking my yard, it is always about enjoying what I have.

The flea market finds in the photos above, from the botanical birthday prints, to the lamps, to the brass tray table are simply ways I have made our house a home with beautiful things found in humble places.

Time is a funny thing.
I am still in so many ways the same young woman you just read about from many years ago ,

who stood in that garage apartment while her mother guided her in how to make a house into a home.

I know you have that young girl in you too.