I get really sad when I drive to town a couple of days a week and see what seems to me, such sad, lonely houses along the way with no lights on or signs of life around. I want to believe there is life within those walls, but I can’t be sure. So many people are at work or school or just away.
It makes me wonder each time I pass them if these houses are just houses, not the homes they were in days gone by when there was almost always a light on in a window or children playing happily (and safely) outside, the family car or at the very least, bicycles, scooters or a little red wagon in the driveway. It hurts my heart to see homes abandoned during the day, or even worse, to think that people have to lock themselves up so tightly inside them for security that there are no signs of presence, no lamp light in the front window to welcome a friend or a stranger. At this autumn time of year, only lonely pumpkins and the occasional scarecrow prove that someone actually lives there, even if only at night.
When I was growing up, my Mother was always proud when she could have a window that showed a lamp light from inside. In the home we lived in when I was very young, there was a perfect place for her table with the lamp on it in the front window. In our second home, where we moved when I was 12, the old windows were too high to accommodate her round table and lamp. But, she was always excited at Christmas time because the Christmas tree was tall enough for anyone driving by to see the lights. She made sure it was in the front window!
I always wondered about this, and eventually as I grew older, I became wise to her wisdom – which was to make the home a place of welcome, light, love and laughter, and of course a cup of tea or at the least, a glass of water or fresh milk from the refrigerator. With nine children, there were always people coming and going there.
The Husband got tired in recent years of turning off the lamp on the table in our front window. He finally realized that even though we live at the very end of a long driveway and people seldom drive up or get lost around here, I must have a lamp on a good portion of the time, especially on gloomy, cloudy or winter days. Not only does it brighten up the living room, but also it is a beacon of light for anyone that does drive up. Like my Mother before me, I think that this is still important.
I wish this beautiful tradition could make its way back into our lives and into our homes again!
~ Gwen of IRISH ACRES