It’s the sofa that we bought in 2002.
We bought the expensive one; the one that would last. And it did for almost 10 years. Now it has become threadbare with the feet of toddlers and school aged girls after homework sessions, after violin practices, and dusty after horse riding lessons. It is dying and dirty and we try to cover it with new aqua pillows and the alpaca blanket from Peru.
It is the stained carpet that we conceal with new area rugs from Home Goods, it is the kitchen that needs overhauled because the grout has begun to wear away between the tiles. It is the dishwasher that doesn’t really get anything clean. Ever.
It is everything that I want to hide from you when you come over for dinner.
It is crazy garage, piled high with unsold yard sale items and it is the drawers in the corner tables in the family room that are stuffed {and I mean stuffed} with all the little things that I can’t find a place for. One by one they gather there by my hand as I sweep through the rooms before friends appear at the door with wine and cakes.
This life is the ever-in-need-of-cleaning mini van, the disorganization of my computer files, the analog versus digital areas of my life {my calendar is on my phone but my to-do lists are in pencil}. It is the un-returned email and the piles of clutter-paper {start over, anyone?}.
This is the imperfect, the ever-in-need, the flawed and the deficient.
This is what I don’t want to show.
But this life is also the fire-pit and chocolaty s’mores last night late, after all of the kids bedtime. It is the littlest falling asleep on her mother’s lap while the adults talk in soft voices above her dreams. This life is the wine bottle emptied, the dinner table full, the soapy-dishwater up to our elbows as we work in the kitchen together.
It is clean laundry and candles and twinkly lights on summer nights. This life is evening breezes and the sun setting later than it ever should and walks around the block after pizza. This life is is pool days and beach days and park days and lazy days all rolled into one glorious week. It is silent fishing on the lake, mustard weeds brushing our feet, a day with only quiet stretching out in front of us.
But beautiful is not beautiful without the imperfect. In fact, the reason this life is so good is because there are blemishes. If we always lived a House Beautiful existence with Travel And Leisure trips planned twice a year then all would be wrong. There is no distinction between un-beautiful and beautiful in this life. It all belongs to one.
The discord and the betrayal and the word-hurts along with the laughter and the happy-afternoons all
together
with one another
make up this life. And together it is beautiful.
May we always be as thankful for the threadbare sofa as we are for the toddler’s feet that have graced it and as grateful for the emptied bottles as we are for the full ones.
This life is beautiful because of the imperfect, not despite it.
What do you think? Can life be beautiful and messy all at the same time?
Yes it is! Thank you.
thank YOU for commenting =)
Yes it is and it can be…what you described sounds much like my life right now :0). Thank you.
and me… =)
You are right, Sarah. We would not appreciate the beautiful without the ugly!
http://irishtripletsrecovery.blogspot.com/
yes!
It’s true. As annoying as imperfection can be when we’re aspiring to perfection (who knows why?), it’s the contrast of the messy and chaotic that makes us recognize the beautiful and perfect. Without the one we’d never appreciate or even perceive the other. Thanks for the reminder that it’s okay to accept and embrace our areas of imperfection. We all need them whether or not we want them.
yes so true. without one we would not be able to appreciate the other. thank you rachel!
This is so true!! We worry about the look of perfection that we really want people to see. Yet how often do I go to a friends house and they ask me to excuse the mess….when I really don’t see it! Even in the most cluttered of homes, I am there to see my friend! Not how clean she can keep her home! How often have I looked at my messy house hoping no one just pops by…but sad no one did??
so true Susan. i love it. it really is the person that matters, right?
in-line comment test. Replying to a previous comment
Isn’t it the messy and imperfect that make us really appreciate our lives and what they are, therefore making that the perfect?!
yes!! good point sylvia!
Love it. And agree.
Oh, the tears ran down my face as I read this…you reminded me of the years of my children’s growing up…long gone now. Yes, I still keep a home, but the clutter is mostly gone now. But so is the sound of happy feet running, voices hollering over the breakfast table, and wishes whispered in my ear. Enjoy your time with those babies. I know you are….oh, I know you are.
Comment test, I love you !!!
test….
Nice look, Sarah–simple and sweet.
This is beautiful! Thanks for sharing
Thanks for this. It came at the perfect moment, on a not so perfect day.
Oh, girlfriend, I miss you! I’m thankful to get to share the perfect and the imperfect moments with you in September. {{hugs}}
Yes! Beautiful…messy…all at the same time. I personally love a beautiful mess especially when I get to share it with you