Me and my big mouth. I've been saying all along that I wanted this house to be a gathering place for family and friends. And I meant it, I really did, but I was kind of hoping to finish moving in before people started showing up.
Today the elder son asked if it would be OK if a friend of his came out this weekend to calibrate the new sight on his muzzle loader. Um ... OK, I guess, as long as he doesn't shoot any animals. And the younger son wants to have "a few people" in tomorrow night. Well ... I'm working Saturday, so as long as there's no loud music late, I guess ... plan on getting pizza though, 'cause I'm not cooking.
Having guests has always been kind of a formal thing in my family. Nobody ever got past my mother's front room without an invitation and/or a few weeks advance notice. The place had to be perfect, and clean, and stocked with homemade goodies before anyone could see it. Needless to say, we didn't have a lot of company.
On the other hand, I envy friends whose homes are always open and welcoming, where impromptu gatherings can happen at any time. That's the kind of place I want this to be. I'm just having a little difficulty getting past the fussy-hosting thing.
OK, big deep breath ... from now on, I'm saying YES.
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The Orchids At Longwood Gardens
1 day ago
8 comments:
I get kind of nervous with guests..so I admire your big step..
We have so-o-o-o much in common! I feel your pain! We had alot of company in the beginning wanting to try their shooting skills, archery, ATV's(no hunting and no ATV'S in these woods!) That slowly changed after the newness wore off.
I understand!! I always use having company as an excuse to really clean well. LOL. I'm not much of a cook (I CAN cook, I just don't enjoy it much at all), so there's where my stress comes when people just show up. We live out in the country, so I can't just run and get something for people to eat either. But I do love it when people come here!
I have the same issues and teens really bring the people home. :) I am glad that now I am just a gathering place for my children to come home, although I would like to be the type of person to have impromptu gatherings too.
Just WAIT until you begin to discover all of the amazing and wonderful things that happen when you choose to say yes. It's incredible.
Of course, if you're me, you also find yourself in waaaayyy over your head and have to learn to start saying no again. But. I wouldn't be doing the teaching I'm doing or the photography or the theatre or any of the other art I practice if I hadn't had three full years of saying yes to absolutely everything that came along.
It's the exact same thing for me! I try to say yes these days too, but I still just cringe when the house isn't clean and there aren't wonderful meals cooking! I don't know if those two things ever happen at once these days!!
So it's not just me! Yay! It's nice to know that you guys too are less than comfortable with guests when the house is less than perfect. I thought it was just a me thing.
For now, I can use the excuse of "we're still moving in," but the fact is it will always be torn up and dirty most of the time. It just will. But I'm working on a shrug and a grin to replace the apologies.
Sally, I think you're right about learning to say Yes. It's changing things for the better already.
once you get used to it you'll love it
I always like people better when i go to their homes and its a little messy
makes them more human in my eyes
everyone stays on the porch when they come to my house!
Marti
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