Beautiful Things

Today is Marathon Monday, or Patriot's Day in Massachusetts.  A holiday for some, but for others (Brian) just another work day.  So I'm home with Sean and Will and don't have much to do.  Well, that's not true.  There's plenty of housework to do, like take out the trash and recycling from a (very) successful party after Sean's Christening yesterday.  Or wash, dry and fold at least six loads of laundry.  You know, the crap that you just don't want to do, but has to get done! 

Will is always begging to go downstairs to the basement lately.  I don't think that he realized that we have another room where we store stuff, usually as soon as one of us is heading down the stairs (inevitably with a basket of dirty laundry) we slam the door so he can't follow.  Now he's always asking "Mommy?  Can I go down there with you??"  So today I relented, and we made our way down the stairs. 

Living in a one-level, renovated cottage has it's advantages....and surely it's disadvantages.  The biggest disadvantage is storage.  Closet space is really tight, and with a family of four (and the youngest member having so much bulky stuff at this age) it oftentimes feels like the walls are closing in on us.  So our basement is like a huuuuuuge storage locker.  The center looks like a mini-Babies R Us, with diapers, boxes for carseats and hand-me-downs from Will that Sean doesn't fit in yet.  There's castoffs from our College and Navy Days respectively.  All my craft supplies are down there, having been carted there while I was pregnant with Sean and losing my spare bedroom/craftroom. (except for my yarn stash, of course!) And a lot of junk.  Mostly when I go down there that's what I see:  junk!  Poorly stored junk for the most part, but we as a couple lack the motivation to rent a dumpster and do a proper clean-out.  (Hey, that's what moving is for, someday!) 

So, down the stairs Will goes, carefully.  And as he reaches the bottom of the stairs he exclaims "Mommy!  Look at all the beautiful things down here!"  He runs over to his toddler (AKA little boy) bed and marvels at it, and a rocking chair, and then beams when he finds the little kid toys that are waiting for Sean as he gets older.  He sees a treasure trove, hidden gems in our old junk..  His reaction to all this junk just proves something that I've always known:  beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder!