I’m a true believer that a home is not a show house.

I’m an apartment person. When I lived in Toronto, I either rented rooms in a large house or lived in an apartment building. When I got married and we moved out to Alberta, we’ve still been drawn to apartment living. It feels natural to me–homey.

You can tell so much about a person by their home. The types of furniture they choose tells their story. The pictures on the walls, the books on their shelves… There is even the end of the couch they like to curl up on–the natural dent that’s left.

There are the things they fix around their home and the things they don’t–that knob on a cabinet that just never seems to get replaced versus the gorgeous dishwasher that’s brand new. There’s the stack of bills and junk mail that is almost invisible to them, the worn spots on a kitchen table, the child’s small doodle on a wall that was just too cute to use a Magic Eraser on.

Life happens inside a home–and life isn’t spotless and artfully arranged. The tea cups get chipped. The carpet starts to get pressed down in spots. Maybe even the wall colour starts looking a bit dated. But it’s a home that has held memories and love, hope and heartbreak.  I love nothing more than looking around at the beautiful, imperfect, unstaged homes that cradle our lives.

It seems to be human to compete over homes. In the area where I live, people compete over the size of their house. In other places I’ve lived people competed over the part of town they lived in, the type of car in their parking spot. So much competition over things that don’t really matter.

Because at the end of the day, our homes aren’t for everyone else to be impressed by. They’re where we come home to, sink into that favourite spot on the couch, and soothe away the day’s stress. For me, my home is where I settle in to write the stories that fill my head, where we raise our child to be a good and honest young man, where we curl up together and love each other as best we know how.

You can’t compete over that.

What do you love most about your home?

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Have you read my March release yet?

He’s always been the one…

She’s always been just a friend!

Grace Beverly spent years hopelessly in love with her best friend, Billy Austin. Now he’s back in Eagle’s Rest, Colorado, determined to provide the best life possible for his four-year-old daughter. He’s just not sure how. Helping Billy navigate the world of parenting is a one-way ticket back to heartache. Yet how can Grace say no to her oldest friend?

Harlequin

Amazon