Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Where I put my hat

I keep thinking of how God puts us in the place we are supposed to be even when we don't want to be there or don't realize that is really what is going on. When I think through my life (in small amounts or grandiose) I recognize how so often what I thought was a horrible thing or even a decent idea turned out to be just what was needed.

When my parents sold the home I'd spent my youth in (ages 7 - 13) I was thrilled. I always loved to move (I thought we did it a lot. Really it was only 3 times. One of them doesn't count. I was a baby. I wasn't even aware of my surroundings.) I was going to have a new bedroom and it was going to be wonderful. And it was.

The house was next door to JAG. She became a pseudo* sister and bestest friends with my sisters. Her family became an integral part in our family and it couldn't have been greater. I loved that house, the yard, the location (you could see wheat fields. From our house!) and my basement room the size of a bowling alley.

When my parents decided to sell that house, I was surprised but not overly bothered. They only had one of my siblings left at home and it was too big for what they needed. They downsized to a house that was... ok. Lyn had a huge bedroom and a basement to herself, but the rest of the house was unexciting. I didn't feel here nor there about it. But I never lived there.

The house fit exactly what my family ended up needing. A great backyard for my dog who ended up spending a lot of time with my parents while I worked. A dog next door for her to play with. A shaky fence the two dogs tore down in order to play. The silly dog belonging to a wonderful family (Crazybarefeet and her kidlings) who are now family.

The house itself became home. And then, when Mom was sick and in a wheelchair, it was perfect for her. In the other home, there was no way she could have gotten around. The other house had steps. Everywhere. To get into every room. Step up, step down, you could not get from one place to the other. So, the new house provided us what we needed without us knowing it beforehand.

Dad sold that house shortly after. It had served it's purpose and wasn't needed any longer. He went to a condo where he met a lot of great people who seemed to need him. And when he decided to downsize into a house, he got a fair price (at the time)** and found a place that suited him.

Here's where I come in. During this time, I bought a house I loved. The spinster house was a joy. Apart from the impromptu swimming pool in the basement and the thousands of dollars worth of work it needed, I loved that house. It was near a friend from work, a cop I knew lived down the street, and we got there just as the neighbour lost her husband.*** We were there for a reason and it played its purpose.

Then, when Dad moved to Ukraine permanently, I bought his house and downsized. I could hardly afford my house even before the major renos came knocking and I knew the sisters had to leave me sometime, I figured I should be ready. So, I bought it from Dad on a whim and moved in. If I'm honest, I never have connected to this house. I'm getting better, but it's still not mine. Yet, in this house, God has again put me where I needed to be.

I met my neighbours who moved in just after I did. Turned out to be a girl I went to high school with and her husband, a friend of Crazybarefeet. I have come to adore them and their little girl. I get to help out now and again with the baby, and they help out now and again with the dogs. It's a sweet deal. Then I have a great set of neighbours to the direct south of me and a lot of nice people who live further down. Add to that the hippy couple who walk their cat on a leash and, well, this neighbourhood rocks.

Even though I didn't always want to be there, it was exactly what I needed.

I'm not sure what the purpose of this post is. Why I felt I needed to write it. I guess I needed the reminder that God does work things out for me even when I seem to think it sucks.




*I accidentally wrote "psycho" at first. Freudian!
** Prices promptly went up $100,000 the next spring.
*** He died, she didn't misplace him.


I am participating in NaBloPoMo. Don't get used to it.

3 comments:

  1. Well, I know I appreciate this post a lot. Being in a dissatisfying job and moving soon, I know that God has had a purpose for putting me wherever he chooses. I think that I just needed to be reminded of it, though. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Funny thing, about 10 mins after I posted this, I had the same conversation with another woman. She had the same thughts going on.

    ReplyDelete

Crap monkies say "what?"