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Happy Go Stuckey

Tethering Grace & Togetherness

What an Old House Can Teach Me about Love.

September 2, 2016 by HappyGoStuckey 3 Comments

In this blue house with black shutters and a screen door that slams– we are home. The newish paint covers old masonite that crumbles as squirrels sharpen their teeth. The deck was painted this side of five years ago, but with each hard rain a few more shards of colonial grey wash through the life-worn beams.

Surrounded by odd electrical wiring and a handful of mystery creaks– this blue house has become the thing we always have to work on.

oldhouselove

Last year we installed locks on a bay window that consistently crept open. From first light until bedtime, the window slowly opened about two inches. Amidst the hum of the dishwasher and the din of our day, soft little slams could be heard as we walked through the kitchen, closing the window as we went. Grab the electric bill from the counter, slam. Pull a mug of rewarmed coffee from the microwave, slam. Stir the marinara, slam. Find the forgotten baby-doll before nighttime prayers, slam. One trip to Lowe’s for window locks and no more slams. Problem solved.

The next day I noticed a spidery crack in the wall of our bedroom and one more by the doorway. Because, it’s always something. No matter how many Friday nights we spend at the hardware store, we will never have a brand new house. It isn’t really a problem, it just is. We can remake every single board and roof tile– but we will still have an abode with many years to its’ credit. And I love that. It is more than character– it is tangible life. It is the evidence that we not only live here, we love here. 

My eyes choose not to see the chippy front porch paint because it is the evidence of a house stretched to fit more. With every footfall that scrapes a few more slivers of black, I count us lucky. Beyond lucky to be here in this house that is our home. Shards of paint equal more feet scaling our steps.

With every new issue that appears, my sighs of exasperation are often sighs of delight. Because this house, this family, this marriage– I’ve known it all long enough for things to need to be repaired. And even though these four walls around us are much older than our family of four– I see similarities between this house and us.

We’ve known this love long enough to wear out many of our wedding gifts and we have begun to feel the age in our couch.
But it’s all a gift. This favor of one more day, month, year.
I find it a gracious beauty that this life keeps going. And though the toaster may need to be replaced for the second time, we are still just getting started.

Because the longer we live, the more we get to fix. The more we know life within this house, it fills us with more than snapshots and splinters. For every time we discover something to be improved that makes us groan and ask, “how much–” there are at least a dozen moments of deep, happy, sighs, just from the living. When we sit on the porch and read or share waffles at the kitchen table. When we dog pile on a tiny twin bed to pray out the day— or nestle our whole family on aforementioned couch– I know the messy is magnificent.

I know that life as a family– with its’ frenzied, complicated elements is more perfect than perfect itself could be. And I know that each and every time we glimpse one another’s ugly bits, we come face to face with grace. Why we needed Jesus. Why we need Him still.

In every moment of frustration and work, we know it is worth it.
Worth the effort. The sweat. The elbow grease. The guttural sighs of not again. 

It is only in the privilege of time that we see that very work as a gift. That an investment in something, somewhere, someone we love– is always a bestowal of kindness to us (perhaps even more than to them?)
It is a treasure, not an imposition. Whether old house or humanity-frail family, the long, slow growth is the path to what we truly need.

In only nine years of marriage and a few less with this house, I know. I know that new love is exciting but growing in forever love is settling. If new love is a jolt of espresso— nine years love is a pot of soup– warming me to my toes and possessing the deep savory of simmering slowly for a long time.

I choose soup. I choose soup and walls that need a touch up any day.

 

“I don’t want sunbursts and marble halls. I just want You. … Sunbursts and marble halls may be all very well, but there is more ‘scope for imagination’ without them. …We’ll just be happy, waiting and working for each other—and dreaming. Oh, dreams will be very sweet now.” –Anne Shirley, in Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery

Mid-Week Round Up (only the good stuff!)
Mid-Week Round Up (only the good stuff!)

Comments

  1. Morgan Elayne Tyree says

    September 3, 2016 at 9:30 am

    This is beautiful! Tangible life is the best kind of life. Thank you for these words.

    Reply
    • HappyGoStuckey says

      September 4, 2016 at 4:25 pm

      Thank you, Morgan! I so agree about tangible life being the best kind. <3

      Reply

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  1. Mid-Week Round Up (only the good stuff!) says:
    September 7, 2016 at 12:29 pm

    […] In case you missed it, Most recent post on HappygoStuckey: What an Old House Can Teach me about Love. […]

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I'm Cynthia and I'm so glad you're here. I am an introvert with an extrovert's love of gathering people together. I love good books and capturing moments. Whether you visit me here or on my own front porch, I'll be the one holding the Iced Coffee for us both.

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I’ve always wanted to paint, but I guess this is I’ve always wanted to paint, but I guess this is almost as good. 🥰 

Finished this lovely piece for a very special birthday and I really love it!
Thank you for the free pattern, @dmc_embroidery !
It’s that time of year again! Here in Augusta, e It’s that time of year again! Here in Augusta, everything is shades of green— ⛳️🌿🥬🌳— including some of our favorite foods! Our Masters celebrations look different from year to year, but we ALWAYS have at least one meal made of Pimento Cheese, Arnold Palmers, & Green Jacket Salad. If only we could get someone to smuggle us out a 🍑 Peach Ice Cream Sandwich, we’d be good!!

I’ve linked my favorite recipe for Green Jacket Salad today so you can grab it and bring a little Masters into your meals this week!
Happy Easter from the grateful, hopeful, Stuckeys. Happy Easter from the grateful, hopeful, Stuckeys. He alone is our Peace.

Surely he has borne our griefs
  and carried our sorrows;
 yet we esteemed him stricken,
 smitten by God, and afflicted. 
 
  But he was pierced for our transgressions;
 he was crushed for our iniquities;
 upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
 and with his wounds we are healed. 
 
  All we like sheep have gone astray;
 we have turned—every one—to his own way;
 and the LORD has laid on him
  the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:4-6
It’s officially Guac-A-Clock. 🥑Ringing in the It’s officially Guac-A-Clock. 🥑Ringing in the fact that it’s almost Master’s Week in Augusta with pollen and Pellegrino aplenty.
When all is well, we often forget to pay attention When all is well, we often forget to pay attention.

We forget to look for daily provisions and mercies as we do when they are life and water to us.

It is not sunny optimism, but hope-filled obstinacy that pushes us to count our gifts instead of our trials.

To know that when the season is hard, and awkward, and everything seems backwards— we are not forgotten.

You may well know, it’s not an easy task. It’s hard work. Like those last few reps of lifting weights— when your muscles burn and you need to quit. What does the coach always say? “Don’t stop. These are the ones that count.”

Perhaps we think of gratefulness like this— It’s still important when we’re sitting with so much grace around us that we hardly remember our thanks.

But when it’s hard?
When it hurts?
When we cannot possibly see the light at the end of this particular tunnel— ✨there✨ is where we make the list of all we know to be true.

That is the place where it counts.
Where we squint if we must, to see what God is doing for us and in us— and definitely in spite of us.

I don’t know about you, but I’ll just be over here filling pages with provision I never want to forget. #solideogloria
Just a little flower garden while we wait for spri Just a little flower garden while we wait for spring to come in earnest. 🪡 🌸🪴🌼🌿 

This is a flour sack towel and although I don’t recommend it for stitching, (too loosely woven,) I do love the way it turned out! 💗
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@christiepurifoy // Placemaker

#internationalwomensday #mothersofdaughters #getaftergrateful #weareplacemakers
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Mine was one year ago today and I love the pictures from it so much I made them into a chatbook.

My Mom & I visited the @biltmoreestate to celebrate her being healed from cancer— We enjoyed the most beautiful afternoon tea, saw the Downton Abbey exhibit and were even surprised with a bit of unexpected snow.
It really was ✨magical✨ and proof that short getaways really can be the best!

Planning travel might be my favorite part— Where will you go next? 🧳 🛫⛰🏰
Throwing it back but not way back: remember last y Throwing it back but not way back: remember last year when we *discovered* the whipped, frothy, goodness of Dalgona Coffee?

I made it again today for the express purpose of seeing if it would still work with less sugar and I rather like my lightened up version!

(Tip: in my opinion, it makes enough for two— especially because I use instant espresso— so it’s pretty strong! Not warm where you are yet?  Tap the little flag to save this post for later.)

✨Whipped Coffee✨ 
2 TBS. instant espresso
2 TBS. cold water
1 TBS. maple syrup or simple syrup
1-2 glasses of ice and milk

Whip/ Beat the espresso, syrup, and water with an electric beater, immersion blender, or hand-held milk frother until frothy and light in color. Scoop over the milk and ice and enjoy!
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