Home Envy

The boys had a playdate today. Actually, Nathan had a playdate with a little boy in his class, and we all came along.

We'd never been to this family's home before. In our town there are a wide variety of houses depending on which decade the neighborhood was developed. And I have to say that, usually, I'm pretty OK with our house. Sure, little things about it drive me crazy, like the crumbing bricks, the cabinets, etc. But overall, I'm easily satisfied.

Driving home from this playdate, though, I had to think hard about what I was feeling. This emotion... what was it? And driving past all the new houses with their high arches and beautiful stonework and perfect paint jobs I realized... it was envy.

While I was speaking with Friend's Mom in her kitchen, I overheard Nick and Nate running around upstairs. "Wow! Your house is so much bigger than ours!"

Yes, bigger, but also cleaner, more filled with light, more spacious, better furniture, better woodwork. Better... paint color.

Now, I grew up in a pretty special house. I thought not much about it until I moved out, and then I thought it was pretty cool to have lived there. But I never regretted it or comapred when I was living in the present with the house I grew up in.

When we moved in here, I thought this house was pretty cool. I still do, actually. And I think we have more space than we really need, even today. I don't usually sit and wish things were different.

But driving home... driving home I found myself wishing, for the first time, that we actually lived in a McMansion with high ceilings and tile floors and huge windows that let the light in.