Wednesday, October 9, 2013

SARAH: SNAPSHOTS OF HOME

     My first all-by-myself adult apartment was in the dusty attic of a 1930's bungalow on Frank Street in the quiet neighborhood of Mordecai. For me, that attic represented the beginning of my life with Jack as an independent single mother. It was a hard time, but a sweet time. It was the place where Jack took his first steps and I took my first leap of faith. After living at Frank Street for a year, I bought and took root in a two-bedroom townhouse in East Downtown Raleigh. It was here I lived when I married Daniel, and here that we thrive together now as a new family. It's a small place, but small in a comforting way rather than a confining one, and represents the beginning of me and Jack's life with Daniel. We are slowly but surely creating a home together, and I think when we are old and look back at our time here on Hargett Street we will remember not only the growing pains of a new marriage and new parenting, but also the ineffable joy that watching Jack grow brings to our hearts. Our time thus far in this home has been one of loving, delight, sometimes pain, and especially learning. I've learned to cook, Daniel has learned how to work the washing machine, and Jack has learned what a full family looks like. 

I collected these snapshots of my favorite nooks and corners around our home on a breezy Saturday morning as Daniel baked biscuits in the kitchen and Jack lay coloring on the floor.  They show how we've combined lives and interests with Daniel's pipe rack adjacent to my Jane Austen Anthology on the bookshelf, his guitars and amp resting beneath my Mrs. Dalloway Poster and the Jack-toys strewn about from wall-to-wall.