Matthew's room...

Jessica's assignment today is to look through the "Family" story sparks and write about one. Here's what I chose...

How was your child's room decorated? What was on the walls?

In the beginning there was no flood of pink or sea of blue. You were stubborn. You refused to let us peek into your world in utero and reveal to me your gender. So, of course, I had to be "gender neutral". What to do with the nursery? At the time I was living with my mom in a rented duplex. You had your own room, acutally it was a 'den' (no windows so it couldn't be billed as a bedroom), but it was yours. So, unfortunately, I could not paint or decorate in that sense. I finally decided on Winnie the Pooh. Not the classic, the bright, cartoon-y Winnie & friends! And to brighten things up, I bought stick on Winnie wall decorations. They worked perfectly! It was bright and finished. A cute beginning for you.

When you were between 1 & 2 we moved. We moved to a brand new little house that had just been constructed. Our landlord, Ace, was awesome. He didn't care if we painted, what color, or anything. I was hyped! At this point you still didn't have an opinion as to decorating so I got to make all of the choices! And what did I choose? Cars & trucks, of course. Big, bright, blocky cars and trucks. What color did your walls end up? Red. Yep. Bright red. Man, for my first painting job that was DIFFICULT. I swore it was never going to really be red (it looked pink for the first 25 bazillion coats). Definitely an advanced choice for a beginning, but I was happy with the results. In this room you became a little boy instead of my baby. You went into the room with a crib and came out in a 'big boy bed'.

When we moved to Omaha for me to start nursing school you were 4 years old. We moved into another small house. Things were status quo. No real new decorating and definitely no wall painting. The following year when we moved to a larger house (on R Street), against the lease I painted your room a soft blue. I painted it back to white when we moved 2 years later into the house I bought.

I went wild in your new room. The walls were orange and atomic vomit green. Yes, you read the color correctly. Atomic VOMIT green. Basically a bright-ass lime green. Your new bedding was horizontal striped. It had most colors: blue, red, orange, lime green, yellow. It was adorable and the walls just finished off the look. For about a year & a half this was your room. Until you became a Star Wars fanatic. Then the walls were repainted white with black accents. Very different from before. You new bedding was black. I sewed Star Wars fabric pillows. And I even sewed a Star Wars rag quilt for your bed as well. This bedding has served you well. It has been your bedding for the past 3+ years.

What will you want next? Only time will tell!