Your Home Is Your Castle, Right Here In Baltimore

There was a slogan many years ago here in Maryland by a politician trying to become governor. He said "your home is your castle." He was criticized for saying that because it sounded racist. He meant that when you come home from an outing, from work, from a vacation, from the doctor appointment and you enter your home, it is your castle.

Even if you rent it and do not own it, it is your place of peace and contentment. It need not be a fancy abode, it need not be an expensive furniture filled place, and it need not be with high technical equipment like everyone has now. It is your place with your furniture, your artwork, your equipment and most of all you.

When my dad died, my mom moved to a different apartment which was brand new and had never been lived in yet because it was newly built. It was in a modest and nice neighborhood filled with senior citizens in her own income level. I helped her furnish it with some of her older possessions, but she indulged in new carpeting and new living room furniture. It was a lovely place and she still had the dining room set that she had shared with Dad all those years and the same kitchen chairs and tables too.  I had bought her the new dining room set in 1958 when I won 2000 dollars in a raffle. I got 1500 clear after taxes and she and I went to a downtown furniture store and she picked out a lovely mahogany huge table, a beautiful 7 foot breakfront with fancy glass doors which enabled her to show off her china and crystal pieces and six upholstered wine striped chairs and a buffet piece of furniture too. It was my gift to Mom and Dad, because the old set was old for sure, about 29 years old. It made them so happy.

She still had her memories but an additional new group of items. When she came home from work, she was alone, but she still had her friendly furnishings to comfort her. She would sit at the table in the kitchen and still see Dad opposite of her. He would still be complimenting her on her cooking. He was easy to please with food and adored everything she made. She was a gourmet cook, long before that word was coined.

When we moved into our new home, we did not have lots of furniture. In the huge living room, we bought for it an old baby grand piano which was dark colored.  We had a restoration company come in and disassemble it and they took it to their workplace and we had them strip the color and it was painted crème color with gold stripes. They then assembled some of it, delivered it to our home and living room and finished the assembling of it. It is gorgeous and it was the only piece in the living room for several years, until we had the money to bring it ‘new friends’ which meant some more furniture.

When we bought the piano from a lady who had it for sale in Charles Village, we took my blind uncle George who was a pianist with us. He played it, checked it out and diagnosed it to us as being a quality musical instrument worth restoring. We had a man come out and tune it and it was raring to go not only as an excellent piano, but a gorgeous piece of furniture. The younger grandchildren come and play on it when they visit, none of us play any longer, though all of us, and my husband and I were good pianists when we were young.

It also is used to display fancy china statues and do-dads. We rescued it from where it resided in a small environment and now it sits in a huge room where it is king of the castle it resides in.

When I was growing up, we were of modest means and I never thought I would have the lovely items I now have in my home. Even after living here in our first and only house, whenever I drive up the driveway, I am still exhilarated that this is mine. From my modest beginning, I have this beautiful home and it certainly is my castle.

 Slogans can sometimes be misleading and taken out of context and we who know our home is our one and only castle, take comfort that when we close the door; we are now in a place of peace and tranquility. We have shut out the world, even though if we turn on the television, we realize some of the terrible things going on. We can still visualize the good things happening and we are grateful for what we have. Our home, our apartment or even a few rooms is what is most comforting to us.

I remember my father's two sisters who lived together for financial reasons and how tiny their little apartment was. I use to visit them and think how quaint it was and how deprived they were because I lived in a bigger space. These two old ladies took that tiny spot and made it into a sweet and peaceful home and now I look back and see that they were happy with what little they had.

Their tiny environment was their particular castle and they were the royalty.  We are all the royalty in our own space because that area is ours. Everyone should be content in their castle and if they are not delighted with everything in it, there are many inexpensive ways to enhance it.

A small picture hung on the wall or even laid on the counter in the kitchen can make it more colorful. A new and inexpensive pillow covered in material laid on the sofa or chair increases the color content of the room. An inexpensive can of colored paint put on one wall can make the room appear bigger.

You need not spend a lot of money to make your castle more elegant.

You will feel more pleasure from any little addition you do. Just thinking about it is fun. Even a small plant costing ten dollars or so will pick the room up with some life.

So always think of your space as your very own castle in your own courtyard. You are the king and queen and princess of your very own kingdom. When we set out to buy our very first home, we went to some older homes and saw how they were decorated. One, I remember, had cages built in the lower level family room. Guess what? They were for the four monkeys they had as pets. I wanted to scream when I saw them in the cages and the owner said I could use them for storage. What a thought. We left quickly and wound up buying a new home about to be built in a community of all new homes. It had been an airport area when my mom was growing up in about 1923 and if they had a ‘rich’ relative who owned a car, he would come and take them for a ride. They came to this airport area where our houses are now and it was really way far away from where they lived downtown near Little Italy is now.

Castles in England, castles here in Maryland, castles everywhere have people living in them that truly believe they are their castle. Our homes are our manor, our chateau, a mansion, a dwelling of greatness.

When I go to the dance studio in Woodlawn, The Promenade, I sometimes look at it as my home away from home. The beauty of it and what dance means to me even at this senior age of seventy-nine is overwhelming and delightful. It is my dance castle, I am the queen, my husband the king and everyone dancing there are also royalty. Silly as it sounds, it is true.   

We all can have a second castle in our life with what we do for entertainment or socialization. When we visit these places, which are possibly in your mind, a home away from home, then we can visualize our two castles, us being happy in both places and coming to each of them as an adventure in our living.

 Perhaps, someone who goes to the opera or symphony in a large theater or hall can think of it too as his or her castle and listen to the music as if it was played just for them. Someone playing tennis in an indoor court could think that way too because the tennis gives them relief from a busy day at the office and brings them happiness and good exercise and health. When I took from the public library, books all ready for me to take some home and now the books were leaving their home and living in mine for a few weeks. In those days, we did not own many books, because finances were slim and money was needed for other necessities.

The library brought us peace with the books on anything you could think to read. I loved the library and all of us kids felt so smart when we got our very own library card. Everyone wanted to work there just to be surrounded by so many books of knowledge. I worked there putting books away on Saturdays and earned about forty-five cents per hour. It was not the money, though it was welcomed, it was the books.

Castles come in all sizes, colors and styles. Whether it is a ranch house, a split level home, a two or three story home or even a library or dance studio, it will always be our castle and give us the same love we give to it as we visit it or live there. Everyone has their own castle and everyone is king or queen or princess of this delightful habitat. Love it, care for it, change it as you have some spare money and most of all, and be grateful for it being in your life. It is your chateau, your manor and even your palace. Home is home and whatever name you give it, it is yours and enables you to have peace and tranquility and sometimes other things happening too. Whatever occurs, it is yours and enjoy it because it is HOME.

The new parents of George Alexander Louis Windsor, the baby born this week to Prince William and Princess Kate may have their choice of several castles or mansions; just remember our house, our apartment, our condo, these are our citadels and most of all, our refuge where we live in love, happiness and competence.