Of Space and Beds by Konnie Enos

 

Growing up our Aunt Loa had a small house. The main floor was just three small bedrooms, one bathroom, a living room, and a kitchen. Her only table was in the kitchen. It was always under the large window overlooking her backyard. Only four chairs were pushed up to it and one, on the far end, blocked the door to the basement when it was in use.

Since she had four children it meant they had to have additional seats to get everyone at the table. Under that window was a large bench covering the expanse from the wall by the basement door to the end of the kitchen cabinets. If need be she could fit six or seven kids on that bench at one time. There was always room at her table.

One of the three bedrooms was occupied by her and her husband but none of the bedrooms could hold three beds, and she had three sons plus a daughter. The solution was adding bedrooms in the basement. Again not large and barely held the beds they needed to. But no matter what, my aunt could always find a bed for everyone, even if it was in the open room downstairs and had to hold three or more kids at once.

That’s what I remember about my aunt’s house, there was always room for one more.

I thought it’d be great to have a house like that so when we got this house, I tried to think of ways to make it so, including getting a bench for one side of our table. Ours is not big enough to squeeze more than three people on it.

I made sure we always had a sofa bed. The problem is, we have to block the hallway to pull it out. To get the whole family around our kitchen table means someone (usually me) is sitting in the hallway. So between the two we can’t sit at the table and have the sofa bed out. That is unless nobody is planning on going out the front door.

My daughter has a wheelchair. I have a walker. This house is so small and so overfull, we can barely get them into our bedrooms. When my knee was out the doctors didn’t want me putting weight on that leg for several weeks but I could not use crutches and the wheelchair can’t even get much further than the doorway.

I ended up hopping on one foot for a few days then they let me use it, with support. My walker was sufficient support, thankfully.

The issue is, I have a small three-bedroom house. Only, unlike my aunt, I don’t have a basement. (Can’t have them here, something about the water table.) I didn’t have four kids, I had five.

We found out pretty quickly that none of our bedrooms had room for three teenaged girls. We played musical rooms for years trying to find an arrangement that worked but in the end, having someone sleeping in the living room is what worked, and still does.

One daughter moved out. (Married with child now.) One daughter is up at the crack of dawn and goes to bed right after supper generally. And she insists on opening curtains as soon as she gets up. She had a parakeet for several years, who died of old age last year, and she needed the sunlight so it was understandable. My daughter also likes things extremely quiet when she goes to bed.

The problem was her sister can sleep until noon and often stays up until late into the night and absolutely can’t have the sunlight streaming into her room.

They not only can’t share a bedroom, neither one of them can sleep in the living room. They wouldn’t get enough sleep for one thing.

Since their brothers can’t share with them, it means stacking them in the living room. A bunk bed in the living room.

We also have a bunk bed in the back bedroom and the other daughter has a trundle in her room. Both top bunks and that trundle are currently being used as extra storage space. Since both boys need a bed, it means the sofa bed isn’t even a spare bed.

I’m looking around my poor house and wondering where I’m supposed to put extra people. I mean I want my daughter, with her husband and child, to visit and Bonnie to visit. That’s four people I have no room for.

More and more, the idea of clearing out the garage and converting it to a living space (living room) sounds more and more appealing. And, of course, we have no money for such things. But it sounds like an excellent idea.

What do you think?

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.