I've been enjoying our new deck lately, gravitating out to sit in the sun after the New England winter, with my tea, our dog, my husband. My husband heads out now to sit on the couch with his newspaper and coffee, and our dog; and my teenage son has even taken to doing homework, or joining our dog, out on the new double chaise lounge. (Our dog also contentedly lounges on that double chaise out there on her own —a miraculously appearing huge raised outdoor dog bed to her — like the Queen of Sheba in control of all her lands.)  A few times, all four of us have found our way out there at the same time to sit, relax, shoot the breeze. 

This is remarkable, why? Because I was positive none of it would ever happen. It hadn't for the several years we'd lived in this house. So I fought this new deck hard, basically until the old deck had warped so badly something had to be done. "Once the weather's warm, the mosquitos are terrible," I insisted.  "And no one's home much in the summer, anyhow. Between the beach, basketball tournaments, and friends' houses with pools, when's anyone going to be sitting out there? " Sinking money into this space no one would use was a waste, I was sure. But my husband was set on it; he didn't want to look out from our kitchen table at the slapped-on deck he'd hated since the day we bought the house, and he insisted he'd use this new deck. So I resigned myself to this renovation, figuring it would add value to the house if nothing else.

But I'm the one surprised to discoverer it's added value to our lives, maybe mine most of all, because I love being on this new deck, and as a bonus, I love seeing from the kitchen window my family out there in the healthy air and spring sunshine.

But what has me mentally dwelling on this new deck is that it has shaken a formerly unexamined belief: our lives shape our spaces.  I embrace Feng Shui, and believe in its merits, but I figured any Feng Shui-related changes and adjustments were subtle, and likely had as much to do with the statement of intention a homeowner had made before deciding on these changes in the first place, as the changes themselves. So I'm frankly amazed to discover how much this space has shaped our lives.  I can't help but wonder how much the spaces I've lived and worked in in the past have, unbeknowst to me, shaped my life.  And what all will I do with this new nugget of information in the future...?!