Thursday, January 28, 2010

Incredible Woman #23 - Sarah @ Clover Lane. Thursday's Questions

KARA: "I loved the story on your blog about how you found your house. What makes your house a home?"

SARAH: "For me, it’s all about attitude. If you hate your house, it will not be a home. Love it! Whatever or wherever it is. Keep it neat and clean and make it you. Be so proud of it no matter what size or style it is, or how it looks compared to your friends houses. This really is the secret. I think the homiest (is that a word?) houses are those where the owner didn’t go spend thousands of dollars on furnishings and fixtures. I have a neighbor 2 doors down who lives in a little Cape Cod with her husband and her daughter. They bought it as a fixer-upper. With a strict budget and her own taste, she has made that house into something so wonderful. So unique, warm and beautiful. I tell her every time I come over, “I just want to curl up on your sofa with a blanket and a book and take a nap.” I swear, it’s just this overwhelming feeling that comes over me when I walk into her entry way.

My house is a home because I make it one. I love that one day I will be 103, knitting in this very same corner. I love that my kids will come home to a place they have so many memories. I love that I have and will spend a heck of a lot of time loving this house…painting, sweeping, fixing, planting, patching, decorating."



KARA: "What is in the future for you? 10 years? 20 years?"


SARAH: "Oh geez. I wish I was 30 again. I’m really having a hard time letting my fertile years go. It’s heartbreaking to me. I know…I must move on. Thinking in ten years, I will have kids graduated from college!!!, my youngest in 5th grade…can I NOT think of it? I really like my life right now.

I have a short list of things I really really want to do: Go to Ireland and visit my brother and my sister-in-law, who I adore. Be somebody’s godmother. I don’t know why…I just really, really want to be some sweet child’s godmother. Go on a mission trip somewhere.

I remember struggling in my 20’s with this concept of everything just HAPPENING to me. I don’t know what I was going through…I just felt like I have never had control of my life. I fell hard in love…I got married…I got pregnant, and pregnant again…on and on. Did I make these choices consciously? I really thought hard about this…I saw others my age really “going for it”in terms of travel and career…having these BIG lives. But I came to the realization that I was SO lucky…I was given this wonderful life. My incredible husband, just placed right in front of me! I didn’t need to go searching. Finding the gift of motherhood early... easily given to me! It seems when I look back from now, at 40, I feel like I’ve walked this path with gifts strewn left and right, mine for the taking. Sometimes I’d open a gift and it wasn’t what I thought I wanted at the time…but it became one of my most important treasures. And so I don’t plan much now. I know my life will give me everything I want….and some things I don’t…and those will lead me to a place of growth and incredible joy."


If you'd like to see Sarah's house - it's beautiful, and homey - click on the link I provided above. Looking at those pictures, I can really see what she means about wanting to live there forever. This last year, we almost lost our home. I have to tell you, there was nothing so important to me as saving it. I had a hard time explaining that - we are running out of kids, they are growing up and leaving, and we don't really need a big house like we have anymore. Sarah hit the nail on the head when she said she wanted her home to be a place that her children came back to - that's me. I really want them to have a place that is HOME. I want my grandchildren to be able to go to grandma's house - and have that be the same place their parents grew up. Does that make sense? How about you? What makes your house a home?

(Sarah's blog has great posts about decorating, refinishing furniture, painting, etc. Visit if you'd like some ideas.)

Tomorrow is the last day of our interview with Sarah. Bummer. (I know... I wish I could interview her for longer!). Join us as we discuss her favorite childhood memory, and who played an important role in her childhood. Also, she'll share her beauty secrets with us! Don't miss it!

2 comments:

Heather said...

Thank you for spotlighting Sarah for us this week so we can get to know her better. I've been reading her blog for a little over a year now and am so inspired by her views and attitude towards life. She is a wonderful mom and homemaker in my eyes. She really is incredible.

Kelly said...

So beautifully said.

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