*NOTE* I found this post from 3 years ago that I never published and it made me cry. I think it is more for me than you…but maybe you feel the same way about your kitchen? And luckily after 3 years, the second kitchen now feels the same as the first.
My Heart is in the Kitchen
When we said goodbye to our first house last month, it was a bittersweet day. I knew that it was the right thing to do, but leaving it was so hard. We went around and took pictures of the kids in every room, had some good cries and also some good laughs….and the kids talked about what each of them had done in all of the rooms.
But for me? I would undoubtedly say that this was the hardest room for me to leave. The kitchen. My first kitchen.
I sometimes have a divided relationship with the kitchen….but I really think it is where my heart is. I learned to bake bread in this kitchen (we moved into this house when our oldest was 2.5), it is the place where I cooked our first family Thanksgiving with just us, and it’s the place where I really learned that homemaking can be an art. It’s the place where I learned to “own the weeknight dinner.” And it’s also the place where I burned an entire pan of lasagna to the bottom of the oven, made some completely rotten recipes, spent many hours doing dishes, sweeping, wiping off countertops, and many other jobs.
But all that work? It seems like a blip now….and I now just remember the wonderful memories that were spent there. It’s the memories of where I first bathed my babies in the sink. Oh how precious were those first baths.
It’s the meals where we laughed and laughed at crazy knock-knock jokes, or the day we thought dad’s birthday candles were going to set the smoke alarm off…and we laughed some more, or those times we made sugar cookies as a family and ate way too much frosting.
Those are the things I will remember from this place. It’s funny how throughout lives and kitchens, it’s the glorious memories that shine through…..
And soon, we will be moving into a new kitchen. It’s the reason we bought our new house, I loved the kitchen. It’s open and airy and has a big island for everyone to gather while meal preparations are going on. And I am so anxious to begin making new memories in that kitchen, complete with lasagna spill-overs, and sugar cookies messes. Because I know that there is where the memories are built. And as for the messes…..well, they always clean up just fine.
~Elizabeth
That’s really sweet.
ANd at the moment, that’s where I can set up my sewing machine. In the kitchen!
This is just beautiful! You made me tear up thinking of all the memories we are making in our current home. I love the learning to “own the weeknight meal” … I feel the same. Thank you for sharing. It’s a good reminder when I am in the middle of my crazy raising a family season when the mess and feeding never ends. Thank you!