Space.

Space is not something for which I feel a dire need.  Now bear in mind that space comes in two essential flavors.

Personal space, is the space around us into which we don’t like other people to intrude when they approach us.

Living space, is the space we consume for our living quarters, or our home.

You might be interested to know that the size of both types of space varies wildly about the world.  Countries in which land is in crucially short supply tend to place correspondingly small demands on both.  Those in which surface area is abundant tend to have bigger demands.

Let me stress the word again for emphasis. Demands.  Space is not a right, and after the minimum requirement, it is not a need.  It is a demand.

I was thinking about a living space variety just a few minutes ago as I shambled into our house.

We have so much, yet we need so little.

Our former neighbors, an immigrant family from India with two girls ages 7 and 9 recently moved into a bigger house.  The principle reason stated, was that they didn’t have enough “space”.  Their house next door, which is very similar in size to ours, is 2200 square feet (204.3 sq meters). The new home into which they just moved, is 3200 square feet (297.3 sq meters).

Let us look at this in perspective.

Not only are our two youngest children a lot older than theirs, which presumably means they demand more space, but our “grown-up” daughter and her boyfriend live about half-time in one of the rooms in our house.   Our house is so big that not only do we virtually never see Dannielle and her boyfriend, but we pretty much don’t even know they are here… Well, we do of course, but I’m sure you understand my meaning.

So let me leave you with this thought, for this day.

When is enough enough?