I literally gasped when I saw the sign. “What? What?” Screams  from inquiring minds in the back seat begged  to know, “Are you okay?”   “Yes,” I said, calming down from my initial reaction. “Why do you sound sad, Mom?” And with that I pointed to the large,  white, upside down “L” holding a new “For Sale” sign planted in the front yard of our next door neighbor’s house. The three of us sat in silence, truly speechless, as we slowly pulled into our driveway.

Many things are changing in our world today. In my world. In my neighborhood. In my home. And depending upon whom I talk with, there are many reasons for the change: the economy, the administration, the greed of consumerism, inflation, the in-laws, the Joneses, and on and on. I listen, I comment, I shake my head in agreement or toss out the occasional disagreement. I also try to recognize what good can come of this – of each situation. I do not buy into the belief that we have to go through another Great Depression so that this generation can “learn its’ lesson,” thereby validating older generational behaviors (it’s okay to recycle the magazines dating back to 1982 and to donate old clothes stuffed into closets since the 70’s – you still don’t need them or wear them, they just take up space!)

Thinking of how different my life is now from just this same time last year, I looked out my living room window at the For Sale sign and I began to look at my home environment as a microcosm for my world.What is going on in my world, in my home, and how I choose to deal with it will (and does) affect all other areas of my life – my relationships, my finances, my body (I live on a hill), my network of people, my actual physical space, myself.

In this moment, I find my neighborhood, my world, my home, in a state of flux, with change coming in and out – sometimes a welcome visitor, sometimes not. Selling my house has crossed my mind as I went through a divorce last year, and while I gratefully came out of that with the house, I now realize how much of my life is in this home and that the way I live in this space has changed. My home environment has been affected by everything going on in my life – from the way it looks, to the way it feels and smells, to what things and which people are now inside of it. And while certain areas used to be for grown-up gatherings only, with my working more and throwing social gatherings less, my pre-teen boys are slowly taking over – even further redefining our home.

So, I ponder what is going on inside my neighbor’s house. In their lives. How their world and the happenings in their home world have shifted such that they decided to move after living and raising a family here for thirty years. How having a new neighbor will change the feel of our street, the look of our street, the safety of our street, and the socialization of the people on our street (hopefully they will become the new social gathering house!)

Our homes and our neighborhoods – and all that happens within them – can be viewed as a microcosm of our larger world. I invite you on this journey as I explore just how far our home environments can stretch us as individuals to make our ‘at home world’ and the world at large a better place to live.

HomeStretch™ will be a regular column the first Wednesday of every month on KathleenMelton.com.  Let me know what is going on in your home by emailing me at info@KathleenMelton.com