The Husband Returns....Yes, he's back! How do I know? Ah, the big give-away: the debris! While I appreciate this is in no way unique to my husband, after four weeks away, he is gradually returning home by making it 'his' home, once again.

In his absence, the house became my haven - a quiet solitude for my work and personal time. Our home offered an amazing breathing space that I welcomed to ground and release all the busy-ness of my life recently. It served as my retreat at home! What bliss to enjoy the simple luxury of extra space, quietness, and tidiness.

After my husband departed for his trip, it took me a few days to get into the groove. I was weighted by missing him - but let's keep that to ourselves...he does not need to know that! While I truly love him, he is my biggest teacher, providing lots of insights (a.k.a. 'triggers') for exploring my inner world. He knows my perfect learning button in any given moment!

The missing soon switched. Given my busy schedule and my need to focus on some big projects, I eased into the quietness of not having the TV on in the background, the constant cell phone calls, and the discussions about what to have for dinner each night. I focused, and in doing so, I discovered quiet lived here. Who knew!?

With quiet came space. After a few days of living with the 'finger prints' of his presence, I gradually started tidying up, organizing, sorting, tossing and cleaning. Bit by bit with each item I removed or put in a special place, more room opened up, both in the house andItems lending in my being. My process of marking was by thinning and prioritizing. Each item was granted meaning, and in turn value, for where it 'belonged' in our now tidier house, or more accurately given it was my process, in my heart. It was closet cleaning from the inside out! Four weeks of living in what had figuratively become my 'pad' offered a new found liberation and peace.

In anticipating my husband's return, I wrestled with my torn feelings of missing him, and yet loving 'my' home in a whole new way. Following our wonderful reunion, it took mere hours for the evidence to appear, as if from nowhere. Unpacking his suitcase became unpacking his 'stuff.' For all that I had marked our home by 'lightening' it, his response was to add by multiplying little breadcrumbs in his path. Sitting back in observation, I watched as he moved, items, pulled things out of drawers, shifted pieces from one room to another, and shuffling things around, as if attempting to find where they 'belonged' in his world.