Shapeshifting

I walked through this neighborhood last night and found the homes to be too big, too garish, oversized. It seemed to me like they wanted the spaciousness of farm owners minus the labor. They wanted small town air but with the prestige of wealthy suburbia.

Regardless of socio economic class, the homes lacked charm. The essence of the neighborhood wasn't my preference perse but the homes are indubitably well designed; there was a lot of space for kids to play outside, you could certainly host a barbecue in every single backyard, and the rooves looked sturdy enough. But it was still too flashy for my taste and it just didn’t make sense. As I was walking down the street, the cul-de-sac was illuminated by a vast pink and glowy sky and all the harsh elements of the mansion homes seemed to soften. Oh so slightly. Well, the home builders don’t get credit for the way God paints the sky but it did accentuate their efforts.

I didn’t want to dislike the neighborhood. It did nothing wrong to me. So instead of being cynical and relishing in my opinion that actually doesn’t matter further than evolving my own personal taste in what I think a truly beautiful home looks like, I decided to shapeshift into the home owners.

I became the man, assuming he is the one that financed the home in this particular scenario.

I was so giddy about owning such a huge entity that I doodled the outline of the home in my journal over and over again and stored it away in the drawer of my desk. I am over the moon to own something so big that can house everything I love: my partner, my kids and their friends too, this fluffy dog and a big voluptuous sofa that faces floor-to-ceiling windows to observe all the greenery out here in rural Raleigh. It made all those days going to work really worth it. I have a home to put my family in. I can host the boys from tennis for a beer if I wanted to. I have a guest room in case somebody should need a place to rest. I have space to give and share. It feels really cool to own something this special.

Then I shapeshifted into the woman for a moment.

I had so many pinterest boards saved for how I wanted every room inside to look. I had full creative liberty. The closets still have buckets full of paint swatches and tile samples from the move. The options were endless for my new architectural canvas. I ended up picking a buttery yellow hue for the nursery and selected a sage green printed wallpaper for the bathrooms. I chose the kitchen countertop intentionally, because I wanted sleek, but not pretentious. I wanted a space for my kids to come home to and do their homework, but also a space for my husband and I to make all of our favorite dishes together. We invested in a Sonos sound system because we all love dancing. When the bass echoes from different corners of the room, it enhances the sound so much. I’ve never had such a luxury growing up. I would be just as happy with a boombox but since we have the space, my husband and I decided that we might as well. This is the nest I return to every day, where I tuck in my kids and watch them grow taller. My husband that loves me so much lives here too, we share a closet together. I remember our first apartment together, this is such an upgrade. So much about our lives will change but I know that I will grow old with him and I find that to be really neat.

Then I turned back into Brynn, happier to have seen a glimpse of the neighborhood through the homeowners minds. And after having shapeshifted, I began to like the neighborhood more.