The Animal Room

The search for the perfect house, or rather the perfect home for us, within the area we wanted, price range etc. was a more difficult undertaking that I had expected. When we found the home in which we now reside, I was thrilled at the fact that it had a beautiful sun room. I could envision my husband and I sitting with a cup of coffee, writing together. Each of us deep in thought as we allow our creative juices to flow. You can probably guess this EXPECTATION (yep there's that word again) was not only not met, it was shattered. Or so I believed. We moved in and quickly realized while the house had 5 bedrooms, well 4 and a family room we converted to a master, with no bathroom and a tiny closet not worth mentioning (we'll save that one for another day) there was no real place for the animals to be. With 2 guinea pigs and 2 parakeets needing there own special space, the room I had dreamed of writing in quickly became occupied, and clearly not by me. Every time my husband or children would refer to the sun room as the ANIMAL ROOM, I would cringe, and state loudly

 "IT'S THE SUN ROOM"

The ironic thing was, the smellier the animal room became the more I wished it was clean, and mine, I could picture doing sun salutations, with my yoga mat laid out, candles lit, soft music playing as I greeted the day. This isn't something I had ever done, in any part of the house, ever, but somehow I could see it in this space... if only.. and then Christmas eve came and changed everything. In the last moments before all of the stores were closed we made a decision to add to our family. She was a sweet baby Ferret and her name would be Mocha, she was a gift for my youngest son (who had been overly into video games as of late) and she would be the perfect surprise. Mocha turned out to be such a sweet soul, and the idea of her being alone while we were gone during the day led us back to the pet store to get her a little sister. Her name would be Kahlua, because.. what goes better with a Mocha really?

Mocha, on the table as I write, drinking out of the water while my candle floats

I write this with laughter bubbling up, as I watch Mocha play with our cat Raven, The rain coming down on the glass roof above as Kaluha watches, clearly contemplating joining the fun. I have candles lit, scented ones of course, and the bird and guinea pig cages have been recently cleaned, but to tell the truth I am not sure how much I would care because I have found my space, and this room that I pictured is full of light and warmth and it is more than I ever imagined. Each day I am growing, and trying to let go so I can experience and appreciate more of life. This might come in taking constructive criticism for just that, constructive, and well meaning. Or realizing that you truly don't have all the answers, and in my case it came in the realization that what might be is often not nearly as beautiful as what truly is.