The Family Hub
In all the different houses that I lived in as a child, there was always a certain place within the home that was unofficially declared the family hub. This centre was usually a specific kitchen counter where everyone would gravitate to just before leaving and upon arriving home. It was where the daily mail was placed, where Mom left us lunch money, where Dad would place a few packs of cigarettes just so he wouldn’t forget, and where little notes were left to remind someone to take out the chicken from the freezer for the evening meal. With all of the activity surrounding our family hub, the area was always neat and orderly.
In the many places that I have called home as an adult, I’ve continued with the tradition of the family hub. At one house the area was a little table, at another it was atop a small bookshelf. In my current home, the hub is the counter that seperates the living room from the kitchen. It’s probably the biggest hub I’ve ever had.
There’s a danger in having too big of a hub; things that are not hub-worthy tend to end up there. So while the mail, keys, wallet, and sunglasses are suitable hub items, I too often find the hub cluttered with loose change, coupons, pens, old receipts, saved rocks and stones, assorted old notes to myself, and torn sheets of paper with a few lines of verse. My hub has lost it’s center, the energy of good intentions has fallen stagnant to clutter.