Saturday, January 23, 2010

Stillness in the Noise

(I just got my documents back after my computer was restored. This was on my  WindowsLiveWriter from back in October…)

 

Being home when my entire family is there can be a bit overwhelming. Twelve people, five of them under the age of six. It’s crowded and loud and fast-paced. Adults are cut off during the mid of every third sentence by a child reaching, grasping, crying or disobeying. There is clutter covering the floor, dishes tower high with food remnants that are nearing the consistency of plastic. Shoes misplaced, hands are grimy from fruit and pool water, and the laundry spills into the kitchen where too many people are attempting to pass through.

Among the noise and chaos, there is utter, fast-paced joy. It is the touch of a hand on an arm from the passing of rooms. It is the ice breaking, thick air cutting innocence of a toddler’s sudden nakedness. It is a sound mixture of constant laughter, audible book reading, piano key ringing, sighs of relaxation and pan clanging. Yet within the pandemonium, there is a stillness of familiarity and comfort. This is home, it is all of these things, but of them all, it is the incessant atmosphere of love. This is the place I know and want to be most of all.

(this was a little paper I had to write for my English Composition Class and I thought I would share it on here)

4 comments:

harmony said...

Oh! This is so well-written! I never get to read your actual POLISHED works! It's just beautifully put, Heather!

(And I feel the SAME WAY about home.)

harmony said...

oh! you changed your settings for me! =)

Ed Ziebart said...

And as I sit in our now-quiet house, dishes cleaned and put away, toy boxes stored, baby dolls in forced hibernation, piano keys quiet, memories stirred by your words allow me to be in the midst of it again!

Ed Ziebart said...

The above was from mama.

Me

Portland, Oregon, United States