Home. I never intended to leave you. And now that I'm staying here, how could I do anything but (stay here)? And so, from pure longing came the brilliant thought that I will NOT rent my home again. I will instead find a HOUSE-MATE. A mate... to share my home... with ME. A house-mate who will live here solo much of the year (a roommate's dream) and me, who wil have my favorite home to come back to... anytime a low-cost plane-fare & school-break collide. A house-mate friend. Me, a happy Bratt.

How could I not have thought of this before?!

Michael-husband (who is becoming a Bratt by proxy) is feeling warm & fuzzy about this idea. Ashton (a wanton-more Bop-Bop fan) is contently pleased with this idea. Friends are happy with this idea. Ami is VERY, DEEPLY JOYFUL about this idea.

The primary-red gumball-turned-bouncy-ball machine stands (& will remain standing) on the cherry-wood living-room floor, directly between the slider & window-facing-the-deck, -where it belongs. Pictures of my children will come down from the stuffed attic & be nailed back on to their spots. Anna Fadely's & Teta Hillsdon's pottery is coming down from the high cabinets to reclaim thier status on the blue-pearl-meditation-colored, open kitchen cabinet-shelves. (Lisa Blake's & Naomi Lindenfield's pottery is in Florida. They will stay there. Share the love.)

"Do you love Florida?" I have been asked, daily. "I will...more...now!" I am now replying. There was a sense that I'd left Bratt, and that made me question Florida. Now I don't have to question, or compare, or choose. I love them both. I love my home. And I love my 2nd home... the warm, get-out-of-the-cold, vacation-spot-for-family-and-friends one... the one that is 2nd to where my heart is. My base-home-heart.