Item #29 – Create a “Wall of Love"

40 Things for 40 Years in 40 Weeks: Item #29 (Things I Really Enjoy) – Create a “Wall of Love"

When we first moved to Washington, we met our new next door neighbors. I distinctly remember going into their house and seeing what they had named the “Wall of Love.” Much like us, they had a lot of family and friends that lived out of the area and were spread all over the country and the world. This one wall in their house had pictures of everyone that they held dear to them. I always thought that after seeing that wall that I needed to do something similar in our home.

I take a ton of pictures however I am notoriously bad at putting them in photo albums and framing them to put up in our house and so for this reason - creating our own “Wall of Love” became #29 on my #40for40in40 list.

We have been lucky to have so many people visit us over the past 10 years since we left California. I wanted to make sure that I included as many of those people as I could. Some came when we were in temporary housing and made that four months in the basement apartment with snow on the ground and the guy that cooked curry above us ALL DAY LONG a little less painful. Others visited as we were literally moving into our new dream house making that move all the more special. We had many that came when we brought home our new babies, several at the holidays, many during our gorgeous summers, often in the pouring rain, neighbors that have become friends and helped us create new memories over here and some visit as recently as just this last week. We have treasured all of those that have stayed in touch and made the effort to come see us because moving away from almost everyone you know can be lonely but having them visit makes it that much easier. I also have a few folks that haven’t been able to make it up here yet but that we consider very important in our lives.

Our “Wall of Love” I decided would live in our guest room so that when people come to stay with us they can enjoy the memories. There were a lot of pictures to choose from and so I decided to do 3 collages and include as many people and memories as I could. I also decided that I would hang two of my mom’s most treasured handwoven pieces on either side of the collages. My mom was a hand weaver when we were kids and we often admired both her “Summer & Winter” piece as well as the “Waffle Weave” tapestry.

I also decided that the collages needed a little something extra. Many of the Beatles songs are favorites for our kids to listen to at night. I was introduced to the Beatles by my own parents and despite the fact that my mom is slowly losing some of her short term memory – she can belt out a Beatles song word for word if you have the tune playing. The Beatles are not only timeless but clearly they are engrained in people’s minds despite any disease that might plague them. So I added the following lyric from one of Chucky’s favorite songs across the bottom of the three collages: “In My Life… I’ve Loved… Them All.”

Today I stand back and admire the people in these pictures and I feel lucky to know them. I mourn the fact that some of them are gone including one of those neighbors who helped inspire this idea. But I count my blessings and treasure the love, humor and support that has been bestowed upon me by each and every one of them.

And so that completes #29 on my list. 18 items checked off the list and 22 to go! Stay tuned for more… #40for40in40.