Spring Cleaning

No matter under what circumstances you leave it, home does not cease to be home. No matter how you lived there, well or poorly.
- Joseph Brodsky

My thoughts are about home this morning, maybe because it's time for some spring cleaning. I need to remove "stuff" from the girls room: toys and games that are missing pieces, old artwork, clothes that are too small or never worn... you get the picture. In Busy but Balanced, author Mimi Doe says, "Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner proposed that children's immediate physical home environment shaped their future emotions and approach to life."

What will the girls remember about our current home? Will it be the sound of music and conversation, the messy papers and art supplies aways spread over the dining table, flowers and stones inside, too many clothes strewn over the floor, dishes in the sink? A friend recently told me we could keep up to two hens in the yard. They would remember that! maybe a black and white hen named Clarice?

What do I remember of my childhood home? It was tidy. Mom enjoyed baking in the kitchen and dad liked working on the cars in the garage. I liked to read and watch TV at the same time- probably not the best idea. I remember jumping on the bed, playing barbies in the yard, and sitting on the warm concrete driveway during summer evenings watching cars pass by.

We don't watch tv news at home, so I like to browse a few sites online and see what is happening in the world. And because it's a fitting theme for this post, Amnesty has a recent article about the territory along the Israel Palestine border. Given Rudolf Steiner's proposal that children's immediate physical home environment shapes their future emotions and approach to life, think of the impact of having your home bulldozed?

The sun is now peeking through the coastal fog- time for that spring cleaning!