Creating a place to land

Written on 17 February 2021.

In our family, I get the title: creative. I write. I delight in baking. I send snail mail. I color and make crafts with the kids. 

But then I watch my husband bring wood to life, shaping and smoothing disparate pieces into something whole and beautiful. I see him use his hands to splash color in designs. Over the course of a few weeks, I witnessed the building of a bulldozer bed for our son, a three-year-old dream come true. 

Stephen worked late nights in the garage. He cut, measured, and drilled. He taught Isaac how to hold a paint brush and make sweeping movements in line with the wood. He followed plans and improvised when needed. 

On the night we surprised Isaac with his new big boy bed, the kids played outside while Stephen assembled the pieces in the room and rearranged furniture. He dimmed the overhead lights and turned on a set of headlights on the bed, a small detail that lit up the room with possibility. The kids came in together, their eyes wide and Isaac jumping up and down. “You like your new bed?” Charlotte asked.

Isaac nodded his head and fell on top of the covers rolling around, his body surrounded by this new digger bed. I stood back and surveyed the room, a smile on my face, too. 

Maybe I’m not the only creative one in the family unleashing hope and joy into the world. I do it through words, Stephen with wood, but together, both of us are creating a home, a place to land in comfort, to be known and loved.

This post is part of a blog hop with Exhale—an online community of women pursuing creativity alongside motherhood, led by the writing team behind Coffee + Crumbs. Click here to view the next post in this series "280 Words." 

280 Words Photo Credit: @pheonixfeatherscalligraphy for C+C, 2021