somebody’s Muva.
thas gang.
If you had to suddenly leave your home, and you had one small container to chose your child’s most loved and played with toys 🧸 and nothing else, what would you (or your children) choose? Faced with that choice, this is what I chose.
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Most of my children’s play things are open ended. Legos, Mega Bloxs, Rainbow stacker, dolls (yes, dolls are open eneded and yes, my son plays with dolls too.) Most of the things they had that weren’t, didn’t make it into the box. Anything that limited their play - that they’d get bored with - was quickly passed over. I didn’t choose the most expensive or the most pretty (I hate plastic entirely but most of the toys my kids love are - you guessed it - plastic.) I definitely didn’t bring anything heavy or anything that was missing pieces. Only what they love, play with, is complete and what would be missed.
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I suppose there’s a commentary in there. Something, something, cosumerism. Something, Something minimalism and functionality. I’ll settle for two of things:
1. There is definitely beauty in having less. As anxious as I am to fill this space with our stuff and reflections of us, I’m conscious - more so - about what I attach value to.
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I have never done an in state move in my adulthood. Every move we’ve done from one home to another has been crossing state lines. Which means that we’ve consistently had to let things go and constantly evaluate what holds meaning and value to us. Nostalgia and Sentimentality gets only as far as “Can it fit?”
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My point being, I don’t get to attach my worth to my things so much anymore. Who am I doesn’t begin or end with what I own. Stripped of all that, constantly starting fresh, I define who I am.
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2) If you were given a box to fit only your most loved aspects of yourself, what would make it in and what wouldn’t make the cut? What’s too heavy? What no longer works? What do you just want to let go of?
I wonder what this room housed? Who lived here? Why did they leave? The crazy thing about apartment living is knowing that the space that is new to you once homed someone else. I still find traces of them in the structure - nail holes filled and painted over or a key left in the uppermost corner of the cabinet. There was so much energy exchanged here. Now I have to clear that energy out and prepare my home for my family for the time being. I have to clean and scrub and pray and sage and rinse and repeat. I have to do that to myself, too. Because I am not new. And as much as I have to prepare my home for me, I have to prepare myself for my home.
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On this earth, there is nothing new. Every single thing is transformed from one state to another. Every single thing is informed by what came before it.
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Before you were you, you were cells. Before your home stood where you built it, there was land that housed birds, trees, bugs and other creatures. Crazy thing - you can be the before and the after.
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I want to fill my home with so many good “afters” that I’m leaving all the negative “befores” at the door. As I make this place into a home, I also hope to start to feel at home within myself. #diyselflove
A late Eid Mubarak
from The Saleem Family.
#eidmubarak #eid2019 #ramadan2019 #blackouteid #blackouteid2019
#eiddripchallenge2019
Much like childhoods, Ramadan goes by way too fast. It feels like we were just welcoming Ramadan into our lives once again and it’s already on its way out. I’m trying to keep up the momentum of this Ramadan while also looking forward to next year (and may Allah allow us all to see the next Ramadan.)
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I’m trying my best to make great Ramadan memories for my home’s littlest Muslims. Right now they’re honestly too young to care. But if I can create one great moment that they take with them, I’ll consider it a win.
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#purpleramadan #helloholydays #ramada #ramadan2019 #ramadangifts #love1another
