Learning About My Son

I've learned something new about my son that I didn't realize. My in-laws have told me that after my son has been at their house, they'll notice that certain do-dads are re-arranged. This picture of two golden pine cones is an example of that - they wouldn't have put two matching ornaments together (I don't have two matching ornaments, so I guess technically I wouldn't either but for an entirely different reason) but they noticed last night that a number of ornaments were grouped together like this.

My in-laws' house is very nicely put together with many decorative items. Every book, picture, etc is in a certain place to create a certain effect. I get the impression that my son understands that concept (I don't get it but am impressed with people who do) and quietly seeks to "improve" the effect here and there. He's never mentioned this to me but I want to set up a hidden camera or something the next time we're here because I'd love to watch his face while he's re-arranging so I could try to understand what he's thinking and feeling.

Apparently he has some strong opinions about how things should look. He gets that from his dad, not from me. I have absolutely no eye for this stuff, but whenever I need a picture hung or something like that - I'm impressed with my husband's ability to know what will look interesting. I told everyone that, for all I know, my son is also re-arranging things in my house but since I don't really do anything intentionally, I would never notice if something changed. He could probably move furniture and it would take me a few days to notice. I think my daughter is like me. She's too busy reading or listening to her new iTouch to even notice what room she's in, much less whether a particular vase is set up in exactly the right place.

Every once in a while I get a decorating idea and it's not too bad. But I can't pull it off by myself - I have to describe the general concept to my husband and he knows how to put the details together to make it work. Colors are very important to me - they really set my mood. For example, I knew that I wanted our bedroom to be a soft, nature-y green but left it to him to pick the exact color of paint and type of granite for the bathroom. It's pretty good teamwork, to tell you the truth. After this visit to my in-laws, I realize that there's this whole other person in my life who could help me with this stuff. Cool. My daughter and I need all the help we can get. I guess in our family the girls will be in charge of the "internal" issues and the boys will cover the "external" issues.