Sharing our messy drawers. Brace yourself.

A very sweet young lady was at our house recently for a get-together. She was so polite and gracious, and even complimentary of our home. She went so far as to say that it should be in a magazine. I about choked on my hot chocolate, cracking up on the inside wondering what kind magazine she was thinking of. Maybe an article about how not to run an orderly home or something along those sorts?

Messy Drawers

 

You see our home doesn’t look like a picture-perfect magazine feature by any stretch of imagination, unless someone’s coming over for dinner or a get-together, then even still, if you open any drawer, cabinet or closet door you will find this …

 

Messy Drawers

and maybe this …

 

Messy Drawers

or this …

Messy Drawers

 

and some of this …

 

Messy Drawers

The truth is we live in our home. Really live in it. Things are going on, projects are happening, sometimes illness hits, and the laundry doesn’t get put away for days on end. Our home hosts two adults, two teenagers, and one large very shed-y dog. We love to hosts large groups of friends at the drop of a hat. Our large mess of a yard needs constant attention. We have jobs to tend to, school work, school activities, church and youth activities. Life is going on in our house whether or not the dust bunnies care to pause or not. It’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination.

So when I see images online or in magazines with those fairy-tale-ish blurred edges of smiling children prancing through flowery backyards with bubbles floating about, or a tidy, perfectly clean and organized home with a happy mom who I know must have all the clothes washed and folded and put away or she wouldn’t be smiling like that, so relaxed in her bright spotless kitchen with her small toddler chilling out on the clean countertop that dons a fresh bouquet of flowers, I have to think, that more than likely, that’s not real.

Real leaves room for messes. Real leaves room for bills and tax papers. Real leaves room for smudges, dog hair, and dirty dishes. But real also leaves room for fun and laughter and music and resting and movie time and game time and I’m being lazy time and I just want to talk time … time to chill out, time to read, time to recuperate, time to think, time to catch up on housework, time to hurry and vacuum all the dog hair up because people are getting ready to walk through the door …

I try to remember when I see the blurry edged pictures of the perfectly perfect family home life, the blurred edges are there for a reason: they cover up all the smudges and things behind the closet doors and drawers and stuffed underneath the bed.

Don’t get me wrong, if I had my druthers, the truth is I like things to be neat. I like things to be cleaned up. I don’t work well amid a mess. My mind doesn’t function at it’s best in a giant whirlwind of clutter. But another truth is, when life is going on, that’s what usually happens. Mess and chaos happen. Thankfully there are doors and drawers and closets, and spaces underneath the bed to cram the less important things of life until they can be tended to.

So is ours a magazine worthy home? Maybe not so much. But I’ll take our crazy mess—our crazy fun-filled, dog hair-covered mess any day to a blurred out, white-washed life.