Family home, refuge or nightmare ?!

Who has never said or heard, after a vacation at the family home, “ I won’t be taken back there again ”?!

Place of all letting go or, on the contrary, of silent ruminations, cascades of laughter or inward anger (or outflow ☺), mix of generations and personalities , patches and ill-behaved kids, factory of memories in all cases, the house family brings together or separates even more.

At TiL, the family home brings people together .

Decades of sharing , reminiscences that flow with every step, in front of every piece of furniture or trinket, immutable smells where childhood resurfaces , large tables after hours in the kitchen simmering huge pots , wood fires or naps under the lime trees , endless games of hide and seek , croquet, pétanque , splashing around in a large pond , thousands of books devoured in the hay of a barn , farm animals to feed, lambs and chicks to cuddle, peas warmed by the sun to shell, strawberry indigestion, birthdays, weddings, baptisms, fiestas, the family in the broad sense , all generations combined, groups of friends ...

But also the moral lessons from grandparents , the endless walks in the forest to “get some fresh air”, the big cousins ​​we admire but the little cousins ​​we want to hit, the freezing cold when we arrive in winter and the stuck-on hot water bottles , the boyfriends that we presented with trembling, the sometimes annoying aunts, life in a community when we just want to be alone, the work to be done all the time , the permanent disorder , the hours of traffic jams , cries of annoyance…

And you, have you ever experienced this atmosphere?

Rather laughter and songs, or shouting and sulky faces ? Sisters and/or sisters-in-law who insult each other or confide in each other? Sisterhood or jealousy ? One still dressed like a trash bag and with greasy hair , seated in a bathrobe at breakfast with the one who is already  impeccably polished, made-up and chic  ?

Not forgetting the brothers-in-law who compare their cars or their jobs (yes we know, it’s a very gendered remark ☺)! Those who only read Le Monde and those other than L'Equipe , the stuck- up people and the little jokers , the " sons of " and the " I did it all alone ", those who live in shorts , and the others " never without my shirt ", those who put their feet under the table asking " what are we eating " and the real cordon bleu , the scholars who recite miles of literary work and those who have never passed the comic stage. Those who delight in quantum physics textbooks, and those who don't leave their Excel tables (yes, we know, it all smacks of experience! Maybe it's for you too then...?). And those who rake the paths or garden endlessly, facing those who watch them... Curious, they are always the same , like in the kitchen!!

But let’s talk about the children , our dear little ones… or not! Arghhhh ☺

Ours and those of others, and any step-children from blended families to whom we can never say anything...

The well-bred , always dressed in "Bonpoint" , parted on the side, and the “ go as I push you ”, scruffy and with shaggy hair.

The nice calm ones and the real pain , the nervous ones and the softie ones that we want to shake, the helpful ones and the lazy ones , the greedy ones who give the impression of not having been fed for 8 days and those who quibble all the time. time, those who cry when they see a fly drown , and the others who do science by tearing off a wing , those who only live in groups and the solitary ones , the early risers and the "bears" who emerge growling at noon, the adventurers and the cowards in their mothers' skirts, those who do the 400 blows and the model children , the talkers or the crybabies who squeal all the time and the mute …

In what improbable life can such a mixture work ?!!

Well in a family home, because it’s all that, and much more… 

So, yes, it's a real gallery of portraits , with frictions and tensions, because there are some, but for what richness , what diversity and generosity , how many laughter (and sometimes tears , immediately consoled ), of moments of emotion , of separations and reunions , of hugs, of sharing and of memories , which make a life, a family, a tribe, a memory ... 

Maybe that's why we re-sign every year, right?