Lights On

Regardless of how long I lived in my first home (or any apartments before that), this is the first time I really feel like I’m settling in. And by that, I mean in a this-is-long-term kind of way. The first house that we buy together as a family, plan and execute as a family, a totally different way of approaching the concept of making a house a home that I haven’t experienced before.

It’s actually the first home that I’ve lived in where I’ve been feeling compelled to keep on the front porch light every evening. It’s a newish revelation, one that I made the very day I finally figured out which light switches in the entryway controlled the porch light. There are a lot of switches, and some of them don’t seem to do anything anymore. Keeping it on feels symbolic in some way, as if to announce that we’re here, the house is no longer vacant, and people in our new neighborhood can expect that we’ll be here for awhile. For whatever reason, I rarely remembered to do this in our old home, sometimes if I was expecting visitors at night during the winter when it would be dark by 5pm, and only as a courtesy to our friends who didn’t know where the stairs were. Or if it was Halloween. But here, it illuminates into the house and across the front yard in a totally different way, and I don’t have that feeling in the back of my mind that maybe people on the street are getting too much of a peek inside our lives or going to approach our door in an unwelcome way.

With that said, we were totally victims of a ding dong dash a month or so ago on a night that no lights in our house were on–early too, at like, 10pm–as we worked by the illumination of our computer screens. That lame factor alone undoubtedly justified the mischievous kids’ assumptions that we’re a bunch of old sleeping farts, but fortunately for our enjoyment, we had just cleared brush from the front garden bed and irresponsibly not cleaned it up, and had the opportunity of watching the sneaks set off every exterior motion sensor security light and then face plant hard through the tangled brush piles while trying to get back to their curbed car after ringing our bell. Bring it on, dummies. So, maybe the porch light will be a deterrent. If that isn’t enough, I suppose we could look into a Live Watch security system to really amp up our game.  I’m calling your moms.

We’ve also been getting Cody accustomed to sitting on the front porch, total Americana-style. In the daytime, I mean. Not at night. No classic bandana yet, but he sure is relaxed and photogenic and getting comfortable with his new, expanded boundaries, and that’s a beautiful thing.

The whole transition that I’ve been undergoing this summer is some obvious testament to my comfort level in this house, and makes me really wonder how this place will transition season to season; will I be more invested in having beautiful Christmas lighting decorations? Better curb appeal? What will come?