The Spaces I Inhabit

We just finished cleaning up our apartment. And it was the type of cleaning where everything that needs to get done gets done. Which hasn't happened in a long while. I guess that's what three weekends of travel in a month can do to you...

There's nothing like order, to me. Knowing that everything is in its place and that clutter is at a minimal. All of a sudden it's like air in a closed off space finally has other places to move around and occupy, and because of that, I end up feeling a little bit lighter. Or at least more comfortable.

Years ago I found this wooden sign hung with twine that says "Simplify" at a yard sale. I bought it and hung it up over my sink in my apartment at Belmont. And then my apartment in Green Hills. And now the apartment that is our home here in Franklin. Except the one at home is another version that is a framed cross-stitch that Natalie bought me for Christmas last year. And where's the other wooden one? Over my office computer.

I just feel like I can breathe easier when I simplify the spaces I inhabit. And I become less less anti-social, too. Automatically the thought of having someone stop by doesn't feel so foreign and you find yourself thinking of ways to actually have people over or have visitors in the office.

I guess it's one of those things I'm learning about keeping house and I'm kind of glad that I only have 814 square feet to do it in. Because when you've got an apartment that explodes on itself because you just have so much (again, that's why we need the reminder about keeping things simple)... the thought of being in a house with kids, one day, doesn't seem so difficult.