Love grows best in little houses...

There's a country song that was popular some years back recorded by Doug Stone called "Little Houses" that I love. The lyrics seem to touch home for me and remind me so much of my growing up years -- "Love grows best in little houses with fewer walls to separate. Where you eat and sleep so close together you can't help but communicate. Oh, and if we had more room between us, think of all we'd miss -- Love grows best in houses just like this..." Everytime I've heard this song or thought of the lyrics I've realized how true they are! I grew up in a home that by today's standards would be considered a small home and oh how thankful I am for that opportunity. On the down side there is little you can hide in a small home so I didn't get by with too much by my parents, especially my mother, but how grateful I am that I didn't. As a young child my parents' room was right by mine so there was no staying up way too late with the TV on (black and white one with no cable, mind you, and way before the time of laptops or ipods!), no talking on the phone way too late, and surely no slipping in or out at the wrong time. During my dating years I can remember a time, or maybe several times that my boyfriend, Joseph would be there a little past curfew and as I tiptoed to the door for a last goodnight kiss I bumped the piano which made a loud thump alerting my parents whose room was, yes, just on the other side of the family room as well. Again, something for my own good and something that could only happen in small homes. Imagine as well that we shared one bathroom -- yes, one bathroom -- five people living in the same home with one bathroom and you know what -- it was also great. We learned to share and to accomodate our other family members. Not only by not taking too long because the next person would have to take a cold bath, but also by the way of being courteous. AND, it stayed very neat and clean -- with everyone using the same bathroom! That doesn't happen much in my home now where there are three bathrooms shared amongst 6 of us at the most generally. Wow how times have changed. I adore the memories of our home -- right there on Highway 34 between Ridgeway and Lugoff...I love the coziness there and the togetherness we shared as a family. I loved knowing if I got scared at night my parents were right there. I loved the smell and the wonderful aroma that would fill our entire home when my mother was baking something and my was it heavenly. Home...I love the sound of that...and I love that I grew up in a small home, one that was filled with love and governed by a mother and father who reared their children with a love of the Lord and in righteousness. Sometimes I look around and dream at times at those mansions on a hill in the magazines and then my thoughts are always brought back to the same beautiful memories -- Love does grow best in little houses.