The 10-Pane Glass Door

We handed the builder the blueprints to our first home and asked him to make a few tweaks when we decided to build a new house an hour east of our first house, Much of the house is exactly the same so it often feels like I’ve been living in the same house for over 12 years when it’s really been 29 months in the new place!

Ari and Fluffy enter my office by way of the glass door. (BTW: The walls are sage green, which is my favorite color, not yellow. Waterlogue made my walls look like mustard!)

In our former house, the door had been 15 panes of glass on it. The kids were constantly stopping by to peer inside when I was trying to work. They’d wave, slide things under, and make silly faces. It was adorable, but I knew I needed a solid office door. After all, it’s hard to write a book when you have distractions in your peripheral vision. So, even though my office was going to be exactly the same, from the flooring to the angles of the walls near my office door, I knew I should change the door even if a glass door looked prettier.

We sat down with our home builder to pick out things like roof color, siding color, door handle shapes, etc. Eventually, we got to door style. I chocked. In that moment, I couldn’t part with the idea of seeing into the foyer of our house. I knew I’d miss out on seeing what was happening beyond my office. So, in what felt like me going back on something I insisted I would change, I opted for a 10-pane glass door. I hoped I made the right choice.

I never expected we’d be living at home — day in and day out for two years — with one another when I made the decision to go with the glass door. But who would’ve predicted a global pandemic when picking out their office door?

Do I regret the glass door? At first, I did. But not anymore. Over time, Isabelle and Ari have learned to wait for a “come in” after they knock. I alert them to Zoom meetings in advance so they don’t interrupt. Isabelle has become especially good at waiting until I look up if she sees me wearing my reading glasses while typing.

If I didn’t have the glass door, then I’d miss many sweet knocks from Ari and his stuffies who like to visit me in the afternoons when I’m working. This afternoon, I had one solid hour to do work before leaving for an appointment. In that time, I received two quick visits from Ari and Fluffy. And while I probably would’ve been more productive if I hadn’t received those visits, I’m thankful my children and I have learned how to balance me working from home while they’re at home.

Next year, when we return to a more “normal” (What is normal anymore!?) life, I have a feeling I will look back on these days — when we were all at home because of Covid — and will miss the smiles, waves, and treasures they share with me through the glass door. But that’s about five months off. Until then, I’ll look gazes from the other side of the door.

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