Dinner. Our family sits in the slim space between the front door and our bed. Forks pecking at rice on china, kids laughing with mouthfuls, dog wedged under chair hopefully waiting for morsels to hit linoleum. I notice we are fully a family of four humans when it comes to food. Kid portions, booster seats are long gone.
Me: I am so excited to move into our home on Friday but I am going to miss this place. I feel so thankful for this experience.
Andy raises his eyebrow, smiles. Ruby screeches and tosses an asparagus spear across the table.
Margot: Let’s do thankfuls about our apartment! I’ll go first. I am thankful for my bunk bed! That my dad made for me. Pass to Ruby.
Ruby: Um! I am thankful for my bunk bed that daddy made for me!
Margot: I am thankful for the top bunk and that I get to jump off the top onto mama and daddy’s bed. And that my dad did such an awesome, awesome job making these bunk beds. I just really love my bunk bed, dad.
Ruby: Thanks, dada. Thanks for the bunk bed.
Margot: Yeah, thanks dad. We just like have the best bunk bed ever of anyone. Pass to Daddy.
Andy: I am thankful you two love the bunk bed so much. Pass to mama.
I went on and on. I am thankful for the deep closeness this intimacy gave our family. I am thankful that my family worked together even when it felt so claustrophobic and disastrous. I am thankful for the deep appreciation I have for things I previously took for granted, like: a kitchen counter, a door to my bedroom, an oven, natural light in my kitchen, taking a shower for enjoyment and relaxation, clothing storage. I am thankful for fresh perspective on stuff and space. I am thankful for everything. I am thankful to know we can indeed all get a good night’s sleep, our ENTIRE family jengaed into a queen bed: Andy, me, kids, 75 pound dog, 22 pound cat and regular sized cat.
They all sweetly listened to my monologue, adding tidbits and stories. Remember that time I fell off the top bunk? Remember when Ruby pooped out the magnet? Remember that millipede? Remember my raspberry leggings?
Also, Andy totally didn’t make the bunk bed. I found it at a thrift store.
32 Comments
I love how it’s easiest to remember all the amazing stories with one foot forward. I’m happiest with my family of five on our tiny sailboat, sometimes even all squished into the vberth giggling. It’s times like these, jumping off top bunks and making doll beds out of empty sneakers where we’re often most creative, most aware that all we really need is love. Good, badass love. Happy move upwards, friend.
Good, badass love! Cheers to that, friend. x
Pass to us readers: thankful for the experiences you penned on this blog. As you know, the things your kids say are the best part of all of this. Happy moving day! And let them always believe he built that bed.
Small space living, check!
Happy movin’ on up day… looking forward to the next chapter too… thanks for taking us all along for the journey. Frankly I think Alice got the best deal of all in terms of space… still can’t get over your amazing yard & what lies beyond.
Enjoy!!
xo
Kate
The upstairs flat we lived in before we bought our home was my #2 fave place ever…I love that I was walking up those stairs as I felt the first signs of baby boy joining us outside in the world 🙂
Love the disclaimer about the beds. Love Andy’s one-line gratefulness and your stream; you know how well I can understand this. Don’t you love that you know just how easily happiness can be realized? How sleeping with a paw in your eyeball and an elbow in the ribs is possible and even, well, cozy? How you can get just as clean in a 2-sq. foot bathroom just as you can in 300? How pretty much everything around us is just a bonus? Congratulations on a successful experience. All my love to you all.
I’m looking forward to seeing your new house because I know you’ll take all that was good about this house and infuse it into your new house. Except with room to swing a cat. lol xx
I am thankful for my friend Caroline whom I CANNOT WAIT to get my arms around. Happy for your Spain experience, ready for you to get home. x
“Pretty much everything around us is just s bonus.” Wow.
Awesome! Happy moving day! Looking forward to seeing pics of the new place!
You sound like my crazy family life – I’m always the go on forever, thankful for this and thank and blah blah blah….and my husband usually gives a “Me too” or “ditto” LOL
Absolutely sweet.
I LOVE your blog and I LOVE that you let the girls be enamored with their daddy and thank him for making the bunk beds. Our preschool director at my son’s school is so amazing, a true gem. She wrote a note to him from our son and her earlier this year thanking him for something that he made, muffins or something. I actually made them, but he was always the one doing the cooking and on that rare occasion I did. My son had also told her ALL the stuff daddy can do and she wrote an additional note to him from just her. It went something like, “Keep doing stuff in front of him and keep him thinking you can do everything.”
I think it is so powerful the family bond you all have. It is so strong and loving and shows in their words and in yours. Happy Moving Up.
This is so sweet. Have fun moving into the new digs!
I thought of you last week. A year ago, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Minneapolis suffered a tornado. One of the people they interviewed was a prinicpal of one of the schools. His home was damaged as well, and he and his family had to live in a hotel for six months as repairs were made. He got pretty choked up during the radio interview, saying he always thought he’d be better able to provide for his kids.
While the circumstances are *very* different, I also hoped he and his wife were able to infuse some sense of adventure during a difficult time. Indeed, that is when we most need to do so. I hope he was able to see how lucky they were in many ways to have insurance, the wherewithal to live in different digs, to even own a home. Remembering what I do have during difficult times helps get me through the other side.
This attitude is one of the reasons I enjoy your blog so much. Seeing it all with eyes wide open, opening yourself to whatever life throws at you is such a gift. Thanks for sharing it with all of us!
I just about fell off my chair laughing here reading that Andy didn’t actually make the bunk beds! LOL. Have fun transitioning into your new space! 🙂
I can’t freaking wait to see the upstairs!
SO happy for you guys!
Love how there were days your were sure you would go crazy but now, in the end, you think of this with nothing but fondness. So lovely!
I’m sure the fact that they think Andy made the bed makes the memories that much fonder. Good luck with the move!
i absolutely love that you guys so willingly plunged into a family experience that i think most would have passed on. and while i’m sure some moments were rough, i believe it to be a true testiment to your relationships and parenting to have not only survived it, but seemingly flourished as a family. it’s experienced like these that create those family bonds that can never be broken. good luck moving up!
“When Ruby pooped out the magnet,”
I seriously just shot coffee out of my nose! So freakin’ funny! Have a lovely weekend in the new square footage.
,,,i’m happy for another day AND…that 3 years ago i stumbled upon “dig this chick”,,,
We’re also in the process of a move and we are so thankful to be out of our tiny apartment near the university! There are so many things you take for granted when you don’t have them – like a dining table. Our new place is still small but oh how I LOVE the big windows and some-what larger living space.
I know someday I’ll look back at our old place with fond memories and appreciation, but we’re not there yet. 😉
Congrats on your move upstairs! Can’t wait to hear of your renovations!
I love that your husband didn’t make the bunk beds…through the eyes of little ones….:)
delightful.
Oh your words! You touch my heart every time with your smart, funny, seemingly effortless but heart felt words. And oh, oh, oh that last picture…..what a classic that one will become 🙂
I am thankful for you and your beautiful family!
xoxo!
ps….the photo of Andy & the girls is
so sweet!
Love! Can’t wait to see the new house [and renovation pics!]
i had so much to say.
instead?
love.
love.
smile.
such sweetness. here’s to a great move!
HELLS FRIGGEN YEAH!
Gratitude, happiness, joy – all good things to pack up and move into a new house.
Big loves to you all.
The last shot speaks volumes. More thanks shoved into that sleepy moment than words will allow. Glad the adventure of a confining space brought comfort and growth and endless amounts of love.
-Jennifer
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