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Pardon me but this post is going to ramble a little bit. Just stick with me.

I have a beautiful home. I love my home. But it is definitely a continual work in progress. Lincoln and I were very blessed when we got married and his parents deeded some family land over to us so that we could build our house. We received 4.26 acres of beautiful wooded land at the end of a dead-end road. The land behind us is owned by the state and contains high tension wires. The land across from us is still owned by Lincoln's parents. The land past the end of the road is a combination of Lincoln's parents, land that has been deeded to the town but can't be built on for 99 years (or something like that), and conservation land. In other words, we don't have to worry about developers coming in and turning our woods into the newest development in town. We're very, very lucky.

But like I said it's a work in progress. Our basement isn't finished. Our foundation for the garage was poured in November 2001 but we still don't have a garage. Our deck is half built. It took us until August 2009 to get curtains put up. It's just a work in progress. Right now we are planning on making some major changes to our house after the new year. Once again through the generosity of Lincoln's parents we're able to move forward on some of our plans for building a garage and a mother-in-law apartment as well as adding a farmer's porch which is something we've wanted for years.

Why am I writing about all of this?

Because every now and then I think to myself....wow, this house needs work. Or, I wish we could do so much more but we just don't have the money. Or, wow, I went to so-and-so's house and it was huge and gorgeous and professionally decorated - what must they think when they come to mine? But here's the thing....I'm 32.

I'm 32 years old. When I was 24 years old we built - not just moved into, but built - a 2,400 square foot, 4 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom house on over 4 acres of land. That's ridiculous. When my parents were 25 years old they were living in a small apartment on Water Street if I'm not mistaken. Every time we've moved our houses got bigger and nicer but a big part of that was the fact that they had worked hard and built these things up over time.

As for those women with the bigger and nicer and more professionally decorated houses here in town, by the time that I'm their age my house will be just as big and just as nice but probably still not professionally decorated (that's just not my thing). A lot of those women are older and both they and their husbands had substantial careers before having kids while I started young. I was only 24 for 6 days before I gave birth to Hannah. When our house is done with all the plans that we have for it we'll have 3,600 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, a 1 bedroom, 1 bath mother-in-law apartment only 174 sq. ft. smaller than my condo when I moved out here and a gorgeous, kick-ass farmer's porch we can sit on and look out at our beautiful acreage. That is when we're not kicking it out on the (above ground) pool deck out back of course.

Once again, why am I rambling about all this?

Just because. Because I truly appreciate everything that Lincoln and I have and everything we're working towards together in the future. I think it's a general trait of my generation to have come along when our parents were more financially secure and able to give us a comfortable life. My parents may not have been that secure when I was a baby but by the time I was old enough to notice they certainly were (or if not, they covered it well). I grew up in an era of prosperity and consumerism and the "you can have anything you want" mentality. I'm used to nice things. I'm used to being able to travel. I'm used to being able to buy things at the store if they're not obscenely expensive and I want them. We're certainly not able to go out and buy things without thinking about what is in the checkbook but for the most part we have a very good life. And I never want to take that for granted.

So I guess that's my point. I'm lucky. I'm loved. I'm able to provide things for my family.

And I never, ever, ever want to take that for granted.