Who remembers the Fairy Tale story of Goldilocks & the Three Bears? A strange story of 3 bears who live in a house (not a cave), who eat porridge, but don\u2019t gulp it while it\u2019s hot \u2013 sophisticated bears, aren\u2019t they? And these same bears seem to take on the attributes of a \u201cNuclear Family\u201d \u2013 Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear.
\nYes, often a Fairy Tale tells a story within a story \u2013 an allegory, perhaps, where characters in the story represent ideas or concepts.
\nToastmasters and guests \u2013 in a strange twist of fate, I recently found a house in the middle of the woods and a fairy tale began for me and my son, Goldilocks. Er, I mean my son! I think every hair on his head is golden!
\nGoldilocks and I were driving by his high school \u2013 CMR \u2013 one sunny afternoon. We drove past a lot of trees that day. You could almost say it was a forest of trees, when we spotted a house! There was a sign out front that I knew was a \u201csign\u201d \u2013 \u201cFor Sale by Owner\u201d. I pulled the truck over and told Tayte to go look in the window to see if anyone was there. He reported back that the house was empty. We decided to go in!
\nThat\u2019s a metaphor, too, for the entire process of making an offer, signing a Buy-Sell, getting a mortgage \u2013 my, has THAT gotten to be a bit of a novel in itself! \u2013 and closing the deal and getting the keys\u2026.
\nAny way you look at it, we decided to go in\u2026.
\nThe first thing we saw was that there was no table of food, no chairs to try out, and no beds to sleep in!
\nThis is obviously where the story changes\u2026.<\/p>\n
My son\u2019s Mom – yes, we are divorced \u2013 she is the Princess who lives in the castle on the hill \u2013 but that\u2019s another fairy tale \u2013 one which she tells as involving kissing a frog \u2013 The Princess suggested that we go to \u201cThe Land of Craig\u2019s List\u201d to find furniture. How many have been to \u201cThe Land of Craig\u2019s List?\u201d It\u2019s an amazing place where people offer their junk for sale, and buyers can make offers almost as ridiculous as at a yard sale \u2013 you know what I mean \u2013 and perhaps find \u201chidden treasures\u201d \u2013 which may or may not be a metaphor, too.
\nThe first place we went had a twin bed for sale for $20. That\u2019s affordable. Especially after writing a check for 20% down on a house! The bed wasn\u2019t a lot to look at \u2013 it was just a twin, after all, but it came with a wood frame that had drawers under it! Bonus situation! That would come in handy since we didn\u2019t have any dressers, either! Although we didn\u2019t know it at the time, we had found the bed that was \u201cjust right.\u201d We later found a bed for Papa Bear AND for some future Mama Bear!
\nWe were hooked! This Craig\u2019s List stuff was great! No reason to ever pay retail again!
\nBut there still wasn\u2019t anything to eat on. I started going to the Land of Craig\u2019s List first thing when I got up in the morning and the last thing before I went to bed. Like an addiction, it had become MY LIFE!
\nWhen I found the series of ads for a kitchen table and chairs, a bookcase, a desk, recliners \u2013 and everything was listed at $5 to $20 \u2013 I called on the way to work \u2013 I used a \u201chands-free\u201d device \u2013 I woke the lady up. I told her I would meet her there and go in late to work! She said \u2013 \u201cNo you won\u2019t.\u201d She had just been awakened by a strange caller AND WASN\u2019T ABOUT TO BE FRIENDLY.
\nFast forward \u2013 I made it to the lady\u2019s house and found a dining table and 6 chairs for $20 \u2013 this was \u201cjust right,\u201d too! I also bought the recliners \u2013 La-Z-Boy matching ones \u2013 for $20 each! And a desk for $20, and an entertainment center for \u2013 you guessed it – $20! I spent a little more than $100 and filled most of the house! I had found this porridge to be \u201cjust right.\u201d
\nThe story of my new house has a happy beginning and I hope it has a happy ending, too, like a good fairy tale should. But what I have come to realize is that filling a house with furniture \u2013 no matter how \u201cjust right\u201d it seems \u2013 doesn\u2019t make a house a \u201chome.\u201d
\nAnd it doesn\u2019t become a \u201chome\u201d by tapping your heels together three times, either!
\nBUT! There is something to the whole idea of a story in which the heroes live \u201chappily ever after.\u201d So what IS the moral of this story?
\nWhen my son first walked into the house, he decided that he was taking the big bedroom downstairs. He asked if he could paint it and pick out his own colors. He told me that the room in the back of the basement was going to be his \u201cLegos Room\u201d where he could finally spread out the pieces and not have to pick them back up. The family room area downstairs was going to be his \u201cGaming Room.\u201d I just grinned and said \u201cOK\u201d \u2013 except for the part about painting the walls of his bedroom black. The cave is part of a different allegory, too.
\nWhat makes this house a \u201chome?\u201d Creating a dream together and then living it. Looking through the window at a different life and then going in to try it out. Finding out which parts might be just a little \u201ctoo hot\u201d or a bit \u201cToo cold\u201d. Discovering what feels \u201cjust right.\u201d
\nSo if you are ever in our neighborhood of the woods and come knocking on the door \u2013 we might just let you in, but not by the hair on my chinny chin, chin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Who remembers the Fairy Tale story of Goldilocks & the Three Bears? A strange story of 3 bears who live in a house (not a cave), who eat porridge, but don\u2019t gulp it while it\u2019s hot \u2013 sophisticated bears, aren\u2019t they? And these same bears seem to take on the attributes of a \u201cNuclear Family\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[25,27,26,24],"class_list":["post-73","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-fairy-tales","tag-reincarnation","tag-speeches","tag-toastmasters-2"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingprinciples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingprinciples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingprinciples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingprinciples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingprinciples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=73"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingprinciples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84,"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingprinciples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73\/revisions\/84"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingprinciples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=73"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingprinciples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=73"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingprinciples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=73"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}