Our daughters’ nursery school held its annual fundraiser last night at our house. The night was a tremendous success, on every level, thanks to the hard work of the planning committee and to Amy E in particular. Unfortunately for Amy and her team, Vanessa and I kept getting the compliments and thank you’s that were really meant for them. All we did was open our doors. Everything else was a function of the planning committee and the people who came out, who were also fantastic… fun, chill, and responsible.
I can’t remember the number of times someone asked what we had done with our furniture. “What furniture?” I would ask in return. Others told me we were brave to put our carpets in the line of fire of 100+ red wine drinking, flourless chocolate cake eating, muddy shoe wearing adults. I would shrug. No one seemed to understand that we really, truly, don’t care… that the whole point of our house is to be able to open our doors and invite people in… that we are beyond lucky to have a home that can accommodate 100+ people, and the last thing we would do is squander such an asset by filling up the place with useless stuff! Moreover, we fully expect anyone who comes over to eat, drink, and probably show up in shoes. So if a carpet, wall, or couch suffers a nick, stain, or scratch in the process of hosting our friends and family? Big deal.
Sometimes, when you use things, they pick up signs of use. Imagine that.
I love my wife’s attitude about our home; she doesn’t see the house, she sees the home… and she makes sure that everyone else does, too.
My wife lives in a home, not a house.
She fills our home with things that our daughters and we will enjoy for a long time. We actively resist filling it with stuff… especially stuff that holds stuff. Candy dishes are meant to be used, and she sees no point in a dish that is so nice that she would feel awkward filling it with candy or having a child’s grubby little hands all over it, nor does she see a point in having more candy dishes than we can use.
She will sacrifice a “thing” without blinking an eye in service to her guests.
She strives to impress no one. She wants to hang out with her guests, not one-up them.
The thing in our house that means the most to my wife is our collection of photo albums. Everything else comes a distant second.
I’m not aware that Vanessa has ever spent a moment worrying that others might judge her based on the kind of soap we have (or don’t have) in our powder room. We have foaming Kidoodles soap, by the way, because our kids can use it. So that’s what we use. And our guests, too.
Still think we’re crazy? Then you’ll definitely think we’re nuts now: we had so much fun that we have already offered to open our doors for the event again next year.
We can’t wait.
 | Enjoy this blog? Listen to my new podcast, Beyond Social. |
I'm Jason. I make people shine. My mission is to help 1 million people tell their stories better. 