THE FAMILY ROOM
Hands down, this has been the most frustrating room to tackle. No matter what I did, it was just like I couldn’t make this room work. It was big, really big, and totally empty. A beautiful red brick fireplace showcased the back wall – that just had to be the focal point. In my old life, I regularly and blissfully escaped the vagaries of my professional woes by curling up close to our fireplace, warm flames close enough to nearly lick my toes, as I cuddled up like a newborn baby with my latest novel or my husband for a late evening nap. Although the House’s position in a warmer climate – both personally and professionally – rendered these mantle-bound escapes less necessary, simply gazing at the fireplace was enough to resurrect that sleeping-in-the-nook-between-your-parents feeling of safety and security I had previously enjoyed, so fostering that atmosphere in the room that was supposed to be the center of the House seemed most appropriate.
[continue to describe, then juxtapose with my struggles with my career. Conclusion with the living room, leave it empty, see how we use it, watch the traffic patters as each family member “claims” their piece, and let the room’s innate design tell you exactly where each major and minor component should be placed.]
Troublesome. Eludes definition. Needs to be where the family comes together. Where it all makes sense. Where we can all relax together, spend time together, be fulfilled together. But so many pieces just didn’t seem to fit right. The TV. How can we have something nice where the children play? The space is too large to really enjoy the fireplace, which is what I truly love about the room? And where are my books? The myriad and mis-shapen puzzle pieces defied assembly in that room – much like my career.
My life as a lawyer. I don’t know why I’m a lawyer. My mother always attributes it to a statement I made when I was knee-high to a grasshopper about “being a lawyer,” but it’s not at all clear to me that such lofty goals should be assigned to a 7-year old who didn’t even know what a gavel was, let alone what it meant when it was pounded by a supposedly neutral arbiter to seal the fate of another young black man caught in the snares of a legal system that was structured to seek and destroy him, innocence be damned.
It just never seems to fit with my personal life.
