Hamewith

I remember a conversation with my dad years ago...My sister and I had had an "altercation" and I was talking to my dad about it. He said. "Listen, there is enough fighting going on outside of these walls. This house will be a place of peace. A place where all of us will find safety." He went on to say that we each had a responsiblility to make sure that our house was a place where we could find refuge from the outside...where others could find refuge. As the years went by, our house really was that place. Even after I went off to college, my friends still came by to hang out with my parents!

Looking back, my grandparents house was very much like that as well. When we would pull into the driveway, you could almost smell the coffee and goodies. We were always greeted at the door by Grandma and Grandpa. As we approached the door, we could hear her call to Grandpa, "George, the girls are here!" By the time the door openned, they were both there to hug and kiss us. Memories offer up plenty of glasses of milk, original Goldfish crackers, sweet rolls and Ritz crackers with cheddar cheese...coffee for the grownups, sugar cubes dipped in Grandpa's coffee for the girls!

We have affectionately called our home "Hamewith". Hamewith is a word that comes from Scotland, meaning "to be at home there, a place of peace." Our desire is that our children, family, friends and "soon to be friends" would find our home to be a place of peace, a place to be at home.

Elsie De Wolfe said, "It is not the home I love, but the life that is lived there."

Oh, may the life that we live here be pleasing...