If you were never a little girl, you might not understand what I’m about to say. No worries.
As a little girl, I played house ALL the time. I had doll houses and Barbies and paper dolls and a two-story playhouse and the fort out back (wood shed) where we held our neighborhood club meetings and even the boxes the new washer and dryer came in. Most of my joy was from creating space and interacting with others.
I find this current T@B experience bringing up all that happiness from childhood. I went to Walmart yesterday to buy a rug for the kitchen area. I measured first, discovered it was a convenient 24 by 48 inches, and then began my hunt. I was not happy with the rugs at Walmart, but it was the day before my practice camping trip. So do I buy something less than stellar for $6.88 or hold out for something awesome later on from World Market or Pier 1? That was my dilemma. The white fuzzy bath rug co-oped from the house was not going to make the trip. I settled on a $6.88 20 by 34 kitchen mat with an approval rating by me of about 60% just to get me started. I’ll be on the lookout for the ultimate rug.
This is how you play house. After childhood, I went on in my career to write about houses and remodeling and building. I’ve been obsessed with houses since I was born. Though I am a writer, I can hardly express how much deep, deep satisfaction I am having playing house with the T@B now that I have money to spend, a car to get me around, a little c@bin to nurture and love, and enough self awareness and power to make it all happen. How did I get so lucky?