Quiet.

It's quiet here. Breakfast is done, kids shuffled off to school, dog taken out. I can hear the clock ticking. The refrigerator hums. The dog's nails clickety-click on the tile floor as she searches for a spot to settle in.

I'm enjoying the last few sips of my coffee before I dive into whatever I decide to work on today - probably the master bedroom and bathroom. Because somehow that's where everything without a home goes to live. It's one of the struggles - and benefits, really - of having no place else to put stuff. We sure don't have a whole lot of room to keep more stuff than what we really need or use or love. And since clutter makes me anxious, and I don't like being anxious, I'm forced to sort and purge those things regularly.

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."                   

~ William Morris

What a great euphemism for life: we should sort through the clutter occasionally, and get rid of or pass along what we don't want or need. Old routines that don't work anymore, friends who drag us down, commitments that have us ... over-committed.

I don't even watch the news much anymore. Which is saying a lot because the news used to be my passion. But these days, with plenty to keep track of in my own life, the alternative to not knowing every detail of what's happening in the world is knowing all the details and being in a constant state of emotional unrest. It doesn't mean I don't do my own small part to make the world a better place; it just means I have made a conscious decision to focus my energy on my family and my home and the things that make my world a better place.

I enjoy the quiet. I thank God I am able to take the time to watch the sun come up and feel it warm my house as I wake up and prepare for the day. I look around and I see a home that I love and pictures on the walls of people I love. It makes me happy. With all this, what more do I need?