A little house has its drawbacks, I admit. Mine ears have heard the glory�over and over and over in high registers on a flute. I�ve been chased into the kitchen because children are everywhere. I can�t host a Humanities class study session because I cannot fit twenty teenagers into my house at one time. I would love to exercise in a private place instead of in the middle of the entire family. Still, I had my opportunity for a bigger house and a bigger mortgage and I passed it by.

There�s something cozy about a little house. People can�t accumulate way too much although Mr. Philately sure tries hard to do so. (According to him, the too much is a wife and two kids and, upon seeing this entry, he asked pointedly which of the three he should get rid of.) Family members in a little house know what is going on with each other--- if only because they can�t help overhearing. They may trip over each other from time to time but they interact. It�s hard to be too lonely when you are part of conversations from one end of the house to another.

Having a little house also keeps options open. Having a little house means having a little mortgage. Our relative lack of debt helped allow Mr. Philately to start his own law firm. It keeps me from high anxiety in times of economic downturn. It makes me the owner of a small rather than a large badly managed yard, thereby reducing the amount that I can depress housing values in my community.

A little house means little chores�although they sure loom big when they need doing. I can do a little cleaning with a little help. If I had a lot of cleaning to do, I suspect I�d still only have a little help. Painting the exterior takes Mr. Philately only a few weeks of evening and weekends. With a bigger house, I�d lose him all summer.

My children live in a world where little houses are far from the norm. Occasionally, my children have complained about the smallness of our house. They dream of rooms larger than the walk-in closets at their cousins� house. But we look upon it as preparation for living in tiny college dorm rooms. We believe we are giving them the chance to experience the true American dream�living in a house that is larger than their parents�.

Just call our little house character-building through a building with character.

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