When our first child was born, she arrived to a household and family all ready and waiting for her arrival. My husband even cut the grass before we left for the hospital. We attempted to make our son’s arrival as memorable. In the end he arrived ten days late to a pair of exhausted parents and grandparents. His cousin was born just five days after him, so my sister and brother-in-law were also exhausted and my parents stretched thin from trying to share their time. Our daughter had a terrible cold virus that peaked with a high fever the day after we returned from the hospital. We spent the next several days trying to keep her from infecting the new baby. This was not the welcome home we had planned.
I quickly learned that when your family grows you must adjust your ideals for almost everything. I always associate welcome with a sense of calm belonging; a household organized, prepared and content. Arrivals to my home, be they friends, family or guests should feel that their presence has been anticipated and planned for. But since the addition of our son to the family our household has never been the same. Welcome means opening my heart to anyone who comes through my door and offering a smile, along with a small apology for the mess. Sharing a simple meal rather than multi-course planned one. While the outward trappings are still desired and appreciated, for us, welcome has become a matter of those wonderful intangibles that let someone know that they matter. I think my son understands this, hopefully my dinner guests will too.
Hi! I came over from Lisa-Jo’s blog 🙂 This is a good word on welcome. I love this in particular: “Welcome means opening my heart to anyone who comes through my door and offering a smile, along with a small apology for the mess. Sharing a simple meal rather than multi-course planned one.” How true. I can only imagine how the meaning of “welcome” stretches in raising children (I’m not there yet), but this seems like a precious nugget of wisdom. Blessings on you!
Thanks! In my pre-kid years I never imagined my life would be this busy or so exhausting. I know in my heart that it is worth it, but some days my body disagrees.
Hi there! I found you on Lisa Jo’s site… I just started blogging, wrote my first FMF today (that I dared to share) and just thought I’d read a few new blogs….
Loved what you wrote, and eventually you might be able to drop the apologies for the mess! : D
Our kids quickly change our view on life don’t they?
Sue
Welcome to the world of blogging. I feel like a newbie myself even though it has been more than two years now. I wish I had discovered Five Minute Friday earlier. It is a great way to keep writing even when I think I’ll never have the time again.
Love it!! I used to prepare elaborate (ok, elaborate for me, but truly nothing fancy) meals for guests and bustle about cleaning, making sure everything was tidy. But then I stopped inviting people, probably because I didn’t have the energy to put so much into the things that didn’t matter. Now I get to have friends over without the fuss. Sometimes dinner is good. Other times, well… At least I haven’t heard of anyone stopping at McD’s after eating at my house in quite a while. But even if they do, they will know that they were wanted and welcomed in my house, even if it was dirty.
For a while I felt like we couldn’t afford to invite people over because the cost of the kind of meals I wanted to prepare was too high. But I realized that for most people, the company is more important than the food.