The Joys and the Puddles

🌿 Sunday Reflection — The Joys and the Puddles

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
 — Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

One evening this week, I was downstairs keeping Dennis company as he recovered from surgery. Zach had been out with friends and had just come home. It was late, and we were all tired.

Then I discovered a large puddle of water on the basement floor.

After a little investigating, I opened the upright freezer and realized the door wasn’t closing tightly. Things had begun to defrost. I was relieved we weren’t dealing with a broken pipe, but it was still one more thing to figure out before bedtime.

This house has had more than its share of puddles. We’ve dealt with sewer backups, water seeping in from saturated ground, roof and attic ventilation problems, and peeling paint inside. Over the years, we’ve discovered things we never knew we needed to learn—and somehow, together, we’ve worked our way through them.

That evening brought Dickens’s words to mind. There was Dennis, home and healing, and all of us together under our roof. There was also water on the floor.

Both were part of the same evening.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about my daughter, Olivia, newly married and making a home with her husband. There is such sweetness in beginning: decorating rooms, planting a garden, cooking meals, and imagining the life those walls will hold.

Watching her brings back memories of our own beginning, before we knew all that a home and a marriage would ask of us.

You begin with dreams. Along the way, you learn about repairs, unexpected expenses, unexpected health issues, tired evenings, and changing plans. You also learn how much it means to have someone beside you, helping figure out what to do next.

“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”
 — Galatians 6:2, KJV

I find such tenderness in that little verse. Sometimes carrying one another’s burdens means sitting beside someone as they heal. Sometimes it means listening patiently. And sometimes it means coming downstairs when someone calls because there’s water on the floor.

My wish for Olivia and her husband is a home filled with laughter, kindness, good meals, and beautiful memories. And when something needs tending, I hope they find comfort in each other—and can sometimes laugh about it afterward.

After all these years, I look around our house and see more than the things we’ve had to fix. I see the life we’ve lived here, the people I love, and so much to thank God for.

There have been so many tired evenings—health worries, house problems, and other burdens we never could have anticipated when we began. Yet tonight, beneath all the weariness, there was something beautiful to remember:

After all these years, we have faced it together.

And for that, I am grateful.

Even on an evening with a puddle.

Helene 😊
Rosemary Thyme 🌿
Fall In Love With Home Again 💛🏡
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