We do something that is a little outside the norm. We love to host out-of-town guests. We practically beg people to come visit. We have hosted friends from high school, college, tons of family, work friends, church friends, and even new friends.
We do it a lot less now that we live on the other side of the country from almost everyone we know. When we lived in the DC area, we had a constant stream of people stopping through. Sometimes they stayed with us. Sometimes they just came over for dinner. Either way, we love it.
This week we hosted a family that is not only special to Alan and me, but also dear to our children: Sean, Amy, Xavier, and Zoe. This family is a BIG DEAL in our world.
I still remember the day I met them. They were our neighbors, so they walked over to introduce themselves. Caleb met them in full Woody costume. Joshua waved at them from the car port, but he was too shy to come all the way out like Caleb did. Daniel was 4 months old, and Caleb was 4 years old. Joshua, Xavier, and Zoe were all 5, and about to start Kindergarten at our neighborhood school together.
Over the next three years, we were all the best kind of neighbors. We all hung out in our front and back yards all the time, along with our other friends from the cul-de-sac, especially Eddie and Betsy and family.
We all looked out for each other. They are the kind of friends that become more like family. Alan and Sean led cub scouts together. Amy coached Joshua’s soccer team. Alan coached Joshua and Xavier’s basketball team. Amy and I hung out and gossiped over coffee after school, on Amy’s work-at-home days. It was so hard to move away from them.
When we left Virginia, we invited them to come visit us in California. We have five bedrooms, plenty of room! I was so excited when I realized it would be a reality. Amy and Sean were able to plan to visit us while Alan was on summer break, so we were all able to join them in their adventure.
The kids took all of 2 seconds to warm back up to each other. It was as though nothing had changed at all. Daniel kept mixing up their names, which was funny, but he was so excited to have Zoe as a roommate.
If there’s one thing I’m SUPER glad that I do, it’s hosting.
This is why:
“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Living just for yourself is depressing. We need to be serving others if we want to be happy.
I remember when my cousin Amber stayed with us for a month. For clean up time, she would take a broom, sweep all the toys together, and then have the kids put them in the toy box. Genius!
There are so many things to do and see here, but we rarely actually go out and do or see those things until we have family and friends to entertain.
We got to go to the aquarium, Cannery Row, Point Lobos, paddle boats, and kayaking. We only kayak when we have company.
Our children benefit IMMENSELY from having guests stay with us. Just this week, I saw Sean and Zoe teaching Daniel how to play UNO, Sean reading to JD, Amy loving on Daniel and JD all the time, and Xavier and Zoe kept all of the kids well occupied. Imaginations were running rampant, let me tell ya.
This one sounds silly, but it has always given me an extra measure of security to go to bed at night, knowing I had a house stock FULL of people.
I blame those long deployments Alan went on for that one. I can’t tell you how paranoid I was, living in Texas, at age 22, hundreds of miles from everyone and everything I knew, all alone for a year. I’m not meant to live alone. I like being alone, but not for more than a few hours. People need people.
Hebrews 10:24
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,
We get all the benefits of vacation, without actually leaving our house. I still have my nice, cozy bed, my kitchen, my stuff. Invariably, it always ends up feeling like our guests have blessed us more than we have blessed them. (Thank you, Sean and Amy! Thank you for the laughs, the lunch, the dinner, for helping with our kids, and for playing Ticket to Ride!!)
In the words of Monica Gellar, “I just love being the hostess.”
“Oh, please don’t go—we’ll eat you up—we love you so!”
― Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are
Now what are you waiting for. Invite friends over to your house. You won’t regret it.
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What a wonderful post; we live 2 states away from my family, so we often host out of town guests! :) It's such an adventure and it's definitely an anti-depressant!
Thank you! Glad you can relate!
Love your posts and MY GOODNESS you have a lovely family!!!! - http://www.domesticgeekgirl.com
#1 and #2 are so powerful! Great perspective. Also, it's fun and good exercise, as you say. I always love being a tourist in my own town and seeing it from other people's perspectives. It happened more in San Francisco but we do get a good stream of tourists in western MA too. Especially in the fall.
I have slight personal space issues (due to anxiety) but as long as there's space, I'm totally happy with guests. I just always need to know I have a place to be alone to breathe when needed. In our house now, it's rarely a problem. I'm a great hostess in those conditions! Whew.
I can relate to everything you just said. Thankfully, our master suite here is a nice place to hide when I need to lay down and stare at the ceiling for a few minutes.
The balcony off your master suite is a great place to get away and relax too. Your company has a great time too!
That is true--with crisp, fresh air to boot. I too often forget to go out there and use that balcony.
Great reasons to want to host and awesome pictures! :)
Thank ya very much!
#6 - yes, I feel the same way with company. These are all great points. We do a lot more "fun and exciting" stuff with company here than any other time, also! Glad y'all all had some fun time with friends! Lastly, I've never heard of Ticket to Ride, but I love games - will you bring that at Christmas???
I like that you can relate to the safety in numbers feeling. And you have more experience with living alone than I do. Ticket to Ride is AWESOME. There's a board game version, which we played with Amy and Sean, and a digital version, which Alan and I usually play, against each other, I on my laptop and Alan on his iPad. It is AWESOME.
What are the two blue sticks that Daniel is holding (kind of in his elbows) do? Do they somehow make the dolphin tail replica move?
They were dolphin fins. None of it did anything, but he had fun pretending to be a dolphin.
The "genius" got her idea from her Mama. Haha. I used to do that for her and Bridget to clean up their room.
Well, that makes sense. Work smarter, not harder. I like it.
Glad you all had such a good time with such great friends!
We did! Thanks!