I last remember folks stopping by like this when our two boys were toddlers - generally the visitors were stay-at-home moms or dads would drop by for a play date, adult conversation or a simple meal.
That was a decade ago; both our boys now are adolescents. The people dropping by now are my sons' preteen or teen friends, as well as young adults in their twenties who I have met through church or CL. They are older neighbors looking for companionship and young mothers whose children like our puppy.
Nothing on the surface is special about our home. It is one of the smallest in our neighborhood. Our glassed-in front porch has a table with chairs that I bought on clearance. Our younger son plays cards at the table with his friends. Our family room has two large and comfy sofas and an enormous TV friends gave us when they moved out of town. Our former dining room is now a music room for my son's basses (one upright and one electric) as well as the family computer, which is currently on the fritz. The mother of a son's friends loaned me the boy's laptop while the boy vacations so I can use it to continue my job search (and blog). Another friend is teaching our teen how to fix the home computer. Our kitchen table is tiny, with just three stools.
Little is particularly Catholic about the way our home looks. Yes, every room has at least one cross or crucifix. But we don't have a holy water font by the front door, or a cellar of blessed salt, or a family altar.
Still, our home is the heart of our family: we pray here, we cook meals together, we welcome friends of all faiths and no faith, we bicker with one another and we try to forgive one another before the sun sets. We deal with the "concreteness of (our) daily existence."
Recognizing the centrality of family life to spiritual life, our Church calls our homes "ecclesia domestica," or domestic churches. John Paul the Great understood their value. "The family finds in the plan of God the Creator and Redeemer not only its identity, what it is, but also its mission."
This is the reason people stop by. And this is yet another reason why I am Catholic.
