See the little girl in pink here? She was a friend invited to a GS event we recently had. Not one of my troop girlies - although she said she is interested in joining. She brought some perspective into my head and reminded me of how I felt about things when I was much younger.

We have been here for more then a year now. Gotten comfy in our house. I wish we were further along in the painting of things and "upgrading" of things (besides the basement and bedrooms). Often when people come over (because we host fun stuff like always) I feel like I am constantly saying to guests, "Well we hare hoping to get some painting done" or "Just don't know what to do with this kitchen floor" - almost kinda apologizing for the way my house looks. Does it look bad? No. Do I wish it looked better? Yes. Did I think it was beautiful when we bought it a year ago? Yes. So what has happened between now and then? Dunno.........

So this little girlie comes to my house. We are participating in the makeup presentation and went into the kitchen to wash our hands of some skin smoothing product we were all sampling. She and I are standing together sharing the sink.

She looked at me very serious and said, "Your house is really big and fancy."

Taking it as a compliment I said, "Thank you, I will take that as a compliment. I would like to paint it though to make it look nice."

She looked at me like I was kinda crazy and said, "Your house is really pretty and fancy. Fancy like I am afraid to touch things."

I looked back at her and saw that she really meant what she said. She sees our house as fancy. Then she added, "I just live in a trailer. It is really small. Not like this." And I was transported back to being a kid myself. Around 5th/6th grade we moved to a townhouse apartment. It was small. My parents were divorced. I was totally embarrassed for anyone to know that my parents were divorced. Hated to have anyone come visit - because most of my friends lived in big houses with two parents and fancy stuff that I was afraid to touch. Except my friend, MJ, who lived with her mom in a trailer that had lots of fancy stuff that I was afraid to touch - mostly horse stuff in MJ's bedroom - awards and such. And I thought her house was cool. I remember feeling more at home there then in my house and enjoying hanging out there. Of course her parents were divorced too - there was probably a comfort in that. Her mom always made me feel at home. So I told this future Girl Scout that when I was her age one of my best friends lived in a trailer and it was really nice with fancy stuff I was afraid to touch. She smiled at me, hugged me and walked away.

And I was reminded that my house is really big and fancy and that even if it weren't - it is warm and fuzzy and filled with things that we can touch and treasure - and that I am super thankful for everything that I have.