There Is No Place Like...

Home. 

Even when "home" has changed considerably over the years. 

I am not talking about my home now. I am talking about my childhood home. I am fortunate to still be able to visit the place where I grew up and spend time with my parents. But that place is almost unrecognizable from when I was living there. 

It seems like once my siblings and I moved out - the home improvement projects began. It first started with a new kitchen, then a new bathroom. Last year, they added new living room furniture. Last week, they got new carpeting in the basement and now the dining room is about to get a makeover. 

Now don't get me wrong. This hasn't been an overnight endeavor by any stretch of the imagination. There has been a lot of improvement but the projects have taken place over the span of let's say 17 years. 

The work that started this week will cover  the wallpaper that has been in the dining room since I was less than double digits. It makes me sad to see it go because I really was attached to it. The wallpaper was part of the fabric of our home and that final element of what existed from my childhood will soon be but a memory.. 

Maybe you think I am too sentimental. I didn't even say anything to my parents, when they told me their plan, that would indicate any sadness on my part. I am happy for them. They deserve an upgrade that is 35 years overdue. I look around my own home and see so many things I would like to improve on but when you are knee deep in paying for college, dance lessons, sports sign-ups, your HGTV dreams are often put on the backburner. My parents have earned this privilege after raising three kids.

I actually remember when my parents’ dining room wallpaper was put up many, many years ago. My dad’s younger brother, who was quite handy, did the work himself. I can picture him kneeling on the floor smoothing out the wrinkles as his radio provided, what is now considered classic rock, motivation. 

It was a treat for us kids to have our uncle there, on and off, for a few days to get the job done. It makes me sad, now that he is gone, that his project will be covered with paint but I guess it is comforting to know it won’t be ripped off of the walls. 

My mom mentioned the different coloring of the wallpaper once she took the decorations off of the wall. With the dining room being right next to the kitchen, there was bound to be some weathering underneath shelves and hung pictures over the years - as I said - more than 30 years. I know that once the work is done, she will add her special touch, arranging her country knickknacks to create the warm ambience that helps make their house a home.

There are a few things that remain at my house from when I was growing up. The reddish/orange carpeting is still intact in my former bedroom - the carpeting that I accidentally caught on fire when I was burning love letters after a break up. (It was only a very small section and my parents remain in the dark about this.) 

Two corner china cabinets are still in the dining room that were special buys, including a thrift store purchase I was a part of, and so does the antique piano my mom bought at an auction when my piano teacher said my little plug in organ with 20 keys wouldn’t cut it anymore if I wanted to continue. 

But while I am a little sad about the "improvements", I am happy that the most important part of the house hasn’t changed in 46 years - both of my parents still live there. The moment I walk through the front door it feels like “home” and it doesn’t matter what is on the walls or what furniture I sit on. I know there will be something good to eat in the kitchen, my dad will be in the gameroom watching MASH and mom will come down the hallway with treasurers, for someone in my family, she found during her thrift store excursions. 

So when Dorothy said, ”There is no place like home,” she was absolutely right. Even though Auntie Em and Uncle Henry probably made some improvements while she was in the Emerald City - it was the feeling she missed most of all. And that feeling is something Home Depot and Lowe's haven’t quite figured out how to sell.