Our home was only the second house Amy and I looked at when we started house-shopping in 1999. The first was, shall we say, a fixer-upper; so when we toured around our home, we liked what we saw. What clinched it was going up to the third floor, which at the time was its own unit: kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and lots of windows and open space. I instantly imagined our future teenage kids chilling up there with their friends, and decided then and there that we wanted to buy this house.
Fast forward 10+ years, and while our kids still need 10+ more years to become teenagers, the prophecy is coming true to a small degree. After a whirlwind of home improvement activity - buying a bed, moving old furniture down and new furniture up, setting up the TV and the working table - the third floor is now a preferred hang-out spot for Aaron and Jada. Watching TV up there is still a novelty, there's plenty of room to spread out arts supplies, and, best of all, it's space that's rarely frequented by us adults.
In other words, it's their floor, and they are basking in the sense of ownership. The grown-ups are trying to thread the needle between letting them have their space and making sure they are shown how to keep it clean, and glad to know they are making themselves a little home within our home.
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