Amy Lu's View

Our house is plenty big for two people (and 3-5 small pets) but it’s nothing extravagant. I don’t know the exact square footage, but it’s no McMansion. Still, I’ve discovered new spaces in our house since Minnesota’s Stay at Home Order (SAHO) has been in place.

Okay, I didn’t literally find new spaces in our house (although a common dream that I have is finding new/forgotten places in my childhood home…can you say symbolism?) but I’m experiencing parts of our house that I rarely make use of.

Before COVID-19, we were infrequently home, and I spent most of that time in the bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and (when lucky) in the basement on the couch watching tv. Now that is about half of our house, which means that I’ve been ignoring the other half. Since the SAHO, I’ve spent more time in our upstairs, in the living room and in the dining room.

In addition to just not being home very much, I’ve neglected parts of our house because they’ve been too full of junk to inhabit. One positive thing about the timing of COVID is it aligned with our recent attempts to declutter our house. We still have a lot of work to do, but we were already on the path so it didn’t take Chad too much time to make the upstairs a usable office space. We got the kitchen table cleared off relatively quickly and have mostly kept it clutter free. Our second bedroom is still a disaster–not sure how long COVID will have to drag on for us to tackle that.

The fact that we rarely use all of the house we have makes me feel better about not having a bigger house–although if we had more space, we might have less clutter and then our house would be more usable. But knowing us, I think we would just let our clutter–mostly clothes, books and instruments–grow to whatever space we had. We could be in a McMansion and still have a small amount of usable square footage.

The return of nice (or even nice adjacent) weather does give us the chance to use our sunroom, which greatly expands how much house we have to use. Unforunately, I can’t work out there too much because it’s so bright (but it’s great for blogging, eating, drinking, and taking selfies–as you may have noticed–with natural lighting).

It’s interesting to see how people react to different areas of our home when I’m virtually interacting with them. People have remarked how our upstairs looks like a cabin–unfortunately, my work laptop doesn’t get a strong internet connection from there. Some have also enjoyed the backdrop of our kitchen (all the glassware) and the dining room (all the booze). It’s strangely intimate to have people who otherwise might never seen inside our house get to take a look at it while we peer into theirs (assuming the lighting cooperates).

Being in a different part of house also literally gives me a new perspective. I definitely noticed this the other night (and yes I was having alcohol and poetry so feeling deep) when I was sitting in the chair in our living room by the fireplace and seeing our living room from a whole new angle. I never sit there, mostly because it has always been a pet’s chair and I haven’t wanted to deal with all the pet hair. (I’m less squeamish about pet hair in the End Times). Oh right, and I rarely sit unless I’m playing drums or watching TV.

I did hear on a podcast (can’t remember which one) that it is helpful to consciously experience a “new” place in your home–even if it is only sitting in a different chair. I can definitely see the benefit of this. Not only does this simple change of perspective help you feel less claustrophobic during a SAHO, breaking out of a routine, even a small one, can be freeing. I also realized this when I sat on our front step–first time in 20 plus years?–for the Minnesota Public Radion “Big Sing.” And spiritual, emotional and benefits aside, we paid for this entire house, so I might as well get my money’s worth!

It really does make me feel a little weird and antsy to realize what a rut I’ve been in and how much I have taken our home for granted. Seriously, we’ve lived here over 20 years and I’ve sat by fireplace less than 10 times. What other, more meaningful oppportunities in my my life am I missing out on?

I also heard on the podcast “‘Staying In with Emily & Kumail” the advice to keep one’s work space separate from the rest of your living space when working at home–even if it’s only having a separate chair. I definitely disregard that advice. My workspace is usually at our breakfast bar, which I find a problem not because it blurs the lines between work and personal life but because it’s basically in the kitchen and so close to snacks.