It Was Never Just About the Windows |
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With new windows, it’s as if the world has opened up before our eyes.
Changing perspectives in familiar spaces can profoundly impact daily routines and appreciation.
Rediscovering existing joys illuminates a profound sense of appreciation.
Spanning three-quarters of the wall from floor to ceiling, there are two new windows facing east in our bedroom. They are the classic kind, double-hung, with six panes on the top. They open easily and wide, unlike the crank-out ones that had been stuck shut for years and years before we finally got around to replacing them. I like our new windows so much that I convinced my husband Ernie to move our bed to the opposite side of the room for a fresh look, a cozy fit for our new life, just us two. These days we sleep with three small windows just above the head of our bed and the two large ones to our right. In the months since we moved back into our home after the renovation, bedtime has become transformed.
In the quiet moments before drifting off to sleep, we lie there under moonlight and starlight, the shadows of the day scuttling by with the clouds. On stormy nights, we huddle in the darkness, the rain hammering above our heads, the wind howling all around as we pull the blankets higher, tighter. When it’s warmer, we fling the windows wide open and allow the breeze to gently brush across our faces, fresh air filling our lungs as we drift away.
It’s as if the world has opened up before our eyes. On the weekends, if we linger long enough, we awaken to the magenta-scarlet spectacle in the east pushing away the night’s dark curtain. Since our sleigh bed has moved to its new perch, we’ve seen green leaves turn to blazes before reluctantly letting go of their branches only to nestle into the gutters or rustle down to the lawn below. We’ve caught glimpses of deer foraging in the yard, squirrels scampering on the oaks, crimson cardinals flitting in and out of our frame. In the darkness of winter, we’ve watched snow blanket our roof until it eventually slip-slides down onto the new deck that’s waiting there for us when the warmer months come back around.
The new windows have even inspired a new idea. Sometimes in the morning, I slip downstairs in my pajamas, brew coffee, grab my work bag, and then tuck myself back into bed. There I sit, propped up on pillows, my mug sitting on what I now refer to as my morning stand. As the clouds part for the sun, I pull my favorite books from my bag to begin my morning with a little inspiration, then move to my laptop to begin writing. Today’s topic? Our new windows.
The ironic thing is that we’ve lived here for more than two decades. This is the house we came home to after we were married. We raised our children, Geoff and Meredith, here and our black Labrador, Lizzie, too. We’ve hosted many gatherings here: family, friends, and even my sister’s wedding. But it’s taken me all this time to see it through a fresh lens.
What I’ve realized is that looking at the world around us is immensely different from seeing it. Just looking at the world equates to a drive-by existence in which we’re careening at top speed from one task to the next with our heads down, our eyes riveted on the road ahead. There are no detours, no U-turns, and no stops allowed. But when we open our eyes, when we truly open our eyes wide and see, we’re opening our minds to a newfound appreciation for all that surrounds us. We’re letting gratitude flood in for all the gifts in our lives, for the very gift of our lives. Nothing that comes into our vision can be taken for granted any longer.
How many times have Ernie and I wrestled with the decision of whether to move to another town, a bigger house, or a cottage by the sea? How many plans did we consider and reconsider to buy land, to design and build a place we could only imagine? How many dreams and schemes came and went before we finally asked ourselves what mattered most, rolled up our sleeves, and turned the house that had sheltered us for all those years into a home we could love for many more?
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Two new windows have opened a whole new world for us. I call them my grateful windows. Because everything I’m the most thankful for in my life has been here all along. It just took me a while to see.
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