{"id":8835,"date":"2014-07-08T15:28:25","date_gmt":"2014-07-08T19:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/?p=8835"},"modified":"2014-07-08T15:28:25","modified_gmt":"2014-07-08T19:28:25","slug":"dreaming-of-houses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2014\/07\/dreaming-of-houses.html","title":{"rendered":"dreaming of houses"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"image\"<\/a>We visited a realtor today. Just looking for information, nothing formal. But it set me to dreaming of houses, a thread that connects me with all three of my sisters.<\/p>\n

We dream of houses the way other people dream of jewelry, or vacations (note: we also dream of those \ud83d\ude42 ). This past week-plus, spent where summer \u00a0days are NOT 100+ in the shade, and evenings dip below 70, have been idyllic. Add the lure of son, DIL, and grandson, and it’s a big draw, Virginia.<\/p>\n

So today we went to talk with the exceptionally knowledgeable Jeremy<\/a>, who was the realtor for my son & DIL when they bought their house recently. It reassures me when someone is obviously very smart — I know, that makes me a bit of an intellectualist, but what do you expect from a writer & former college professor??<\/p>\n

As it \u00a0turns out, it might be a good bet to build. Now, I have to share something: my husband used to build houses. We went broke doing that. TWICE. \u00a0So he doesn’t have good memories of building houses. Given, he was a framing company. But still — it’s not his favourite thing. And I had heat exhaustion more than once, those many years ago, just being a gofer at the building site. Need I mention again that building isn’t a huge draw for my beloved?\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Me, however? You get to play house\u00a0for real<\/em>! Get to choose wood floors vs. carpet (yup), tile vs. wood (bathrooms only), wall paint (cream\/ ivory\/ watercolour blue\/ grey), moulding, roofing, trim… WOW! How cool does that sound?<\/p>\n

So a smallish Craftsman bungalow was one of the possibles from a local builder. Well, actually it wasn’t small. But it could be! (We do NOT need a house as big as the one we currently rattle around in, even if my beloved doesn’t agree…yet. \ud83d\ude42 )<\/p>\n

This is a part of everyday living that’s wonderful: dreaming of a perfect house, that would — of course! — be filled with a perfect life, and perfect days. As my meditation teacher Sister Ellie would say, these are castles that may well be nothing. But at least they’re not worrisome castles (you know: the kind you haunt in your own dreams).<\/p>\n

And really: doesn’t a small-ish Craftsman bungalow, not far from the kids, w\/ a spare room for the traveling son, sound wonderful? It sure does to me.<\/p>\n

Someone asked me once if Buddhists shouldn’t be grounded in the everyday world. And sure, we should. But daydreams don’t contradict that (in my not-humble-enough opinion \ud83d\ude42 ). Beginner’s heart can live very nicely in a dream house. At least mine can!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We visited a realtor today. Just looking for information, nothing formal. But it set me to dreaming of houses, a thread that connects me with all three of my sisters. We dream of houses the way other people dream of jewelry, or vacations (note: we also dream of those \ud83d\ude42 ). This past week-plus, spent…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[834],"tags":[11,1181,1187,262,836,835],"class_list":["post-8835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daydreams","tag-beginners-heart","tag-britton-gildersleeve","tag-buddhism","tag-buddhist-blogs","tag-building-houses","tag-daydreaming"],"yoast_head":"\ndreaming of houses - Beginner's Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We visited a realtor today. Just looking for information, nothing formal. 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