If These Walls Could Talk
Despite the mountains of snow in our front yard and an icy driveway, several real estate agents have trekked through our house in recent weeks as we’re putting our home on the market before mud season hits.
While we love our cozy Cape, there’s nothing particularly special or unique about it . . . except the bathroom in the basement, which always takes the touring Realtor by surprise.
The walls, ceiling, and door are covered in 18 years of graffiti.
When I was a kid growing up in Harvard (i.e., ‘My Life So Far‘), we also had a bathroom in the basement covered in graffiti. And to this day, decades later, childhood friends still remember it.
As a young girl who spent way too much time daydreaming, I loved expressing myself anonymously on those white walls – largely because (as everyone knows from an early age) drawing on walls is a huge taboo. And here was this wonderful outlet inviting us to break the rules without the guilt!
When my kids and their friends were growing up in our current house, I used the same graffiti guidelines as my mom did: Say whatever you want as long as it isn’t X-rated or hurtful to anyone else.
As you can well imagine, most of the free-flowing restroom epiphanies (during both eras) involved typical bathroom humor, but you’d be surprised to also read a few political statements, some deep romantic confessions and significant milestones, as well as secret codes clearly meant for someone else (who may be visiting at a later date).
Of course, these days social media is a virtual form of graffiti – it’s enabled us to anonymously say anything we want, no matter how tremendously hurtful or offensive. But I still think there’s value in good old-fashioned handwritten household graffiti – an ongoing family art project that doubles as a time capsule. You can literally see your children and their friends grow up on those talking walls.
While I know it will be very difficult to pack up the 18-year old basket of markers and leave this little room behind – or worse, whitewash it as we’ve been strongly advised to do – I can only hope my kids will encourage their children to live creatively . . . and scribble their childhood thoughts all over a wall or two.
While we love our cozy Cape, there’s nothing particularly special or unique about it . . . except the bathroom in the basement, which always takes the touring Realtor by surprise.
The walls, ceiling, and door are covered in 18 years of graffiti.
When I was a kid growing up in Harvard (i.e., ‘My Life So Far‘), we also had a bathroom in the basement covered in graffiti. And to this day, decades later, childhood friends still remember it.
As a young girl who spent way too much time daydreaming, I loved expressing myself anonymously on those white walls – largely because (as everyone knows from an early age) drawing on walls is a huge taboo. And here was this wonderful outlet inviting us to break the rules without the guilt!
When my kids and their friends were growing up in our current house, I used the same graffiti guidelines as my mom did: Say whatever you want as long as it isn’t X-rated or hurtful to anyone else.
As you can well imagine, most of the free-flowing restroom epiphanies (during both eras) involved typical bathroom humor, but you’d be surprised to also read a few political statements, some deep romantic confessions and significant milestones, as well as secret codes clearly meant for someone else (who may be visiting at a later date).
Of course, these days social media is a virtual form of graffiti – it’s enabled us to anonymously say anything we want, no matter how tremendously hurtful or offensive. But I still think there’s value in good old-fashioned handwritten household graffiti – an ongoing family art project that doubles as a time capsule. You can literally see your children and their friends grow up on those talking walls.
While I know it will be very difficult to pack up the 18-year old basket of markers and leave this little room behind – or worse, whitewash it as we’ve been strongly advised to do – I can only hope my kids will encourage their children to live creatively . . . and scribble their childhood thoughts all over a wall or two.
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message 1:
by
Nancy
(new)
Mar 02, 2015 10:51AM
What a fabulous idea! Much more interesting than the little "height" markers we have on our basement stairway. Thanks for sharing!
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You two should have signed a wall last week LOL! It's been fun but will be difficult to leave behind....
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