Many homes in my part of the country have separate Living Rooms. There’s the Family Room or your Great Room, assorted Bed Rooms/Kids Rooms/Guest Rooms, the all-important hub of the home, the kitchen, maybe even a separate dining room… and then the Living Room.
Philip Greenberg, Designer
Most of the rooms are flooded with traffic, people and collections of stuff. The kitchen, the epi-center of the home is where everything begins and seems to end up. Even the separate fancy dining room sees activity on holidays and when company comes for dinner.
But what about the Living Room? The small room with the best furniture. My house is no exception, nice rug, baby grand, tiny silk love seat. In most homes, it’s the neatest room, and the first room your guests see as they file by on their way to the Family Room. Some houses even close the room off and call it a parlor.
I remember reading an article by the wonderful humorist, Erma Bombeck, in which she lamented that now, at the end of her life, she had wished she had eaten more ice cream and had it in the “living room”.
I believe this is something that may be restricted to our culture. In Europe, the most elegant Manor Homes are filled with furnishings that are worn and used… loved and enjoyed… shared. So what are we waiting for? Why are we so programed to deny ourselves the simple pleasures that life affords us everyday, those that are right in front of us and within our grasp. Why do we save our best for someone else? Who better to sit on your best couch, with your best china than you! Don’t you deserve it as much or more than the guest you only see once a year that you are trying to impress?
Maybe you don’t have a special room like this in your house, but you probably have something else in your life that is gathering dust, untouched, that you are saving, waiting for that perfect moment before you allow yourself any enjoyment. I think that moment is now.
Erma Bombeck had the right idea when she said, “Seize the moment. Think of all those women on the ‘Titanic’ who waved off the dessert cart.”
So this weekend… I’ll be having ice cream… in the living room.
Posted by:Linda Hawkinson
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Excellent point… I don’t even want to think about the doll collection in my attic. They are just things, We need to invest ourselves in people, not things. Then we’ll really have something to pass on.
Do Barbie dolls count? When I was growing up I had a whole case of Barbie Dolls with clothes that my mother and sister made for my dolls. I kept that case and its clothes intending to pass it on to my daughter.
When my daughter was little she continually asked me if she could have the Barbies. I kept telling her that she could as soon as she was old enough to take care of them properly. Well, she is grown now and on her own and still doesn’t have my Barbies!
I regret until this day not letting her play with them as a child. These poor dolls still sit in their case in the back of my closet knowing no one. Unless….I am blessed with a granddaughter some day. But then she probably will prefer new to Grandma’s old Barbies. :)
Doesn’t sound like you have the dreaded “I’m-saving-it-for-later” syndrome better known as, “Am-I-really-worthy” disease… and that’s a very good thing.
I also have a “living room” and “family room”. We live in our kitchen and family room. However, my living room has become the grandchildren’s play area. I don’t have expensive furniture in there, but it is comfortable. I take care of the kids 3 to 4 days a week and they need some place where I’m not constantly saying “hey you guys, cut it out, be quiet, stop doing that”. My front hall coat closet has become “the toy closet”. I have plastic bins lined up in there for easy access to the toys. They seem to enjoy this room as they can spread out and run their trucks and cars all over the hardwood floor. And…it’s a comfortable place for me to sit and have my cup of coffee and keep my eyes open for “trouble”.