My whole life I just wanted to have a two story house.  I had these visions of coming down the stairs on Christmas morning to discover prettily wrapped presents under a shimmering tree.  We may not have a grand staircase, but we have a beautiful two story house for which we are exceedingly grateful.  Our little landing seems to be the point of popularity amongst our household.  Pictured here is Dakota, surrounded by five of our little one’s toy cats.  For the record our real cats enjoy it as well, I suppose because it lends a pretty good vantage of our house between the skylights in the roof and what’s going on downstairs.  Navigating it, though, is a whole other story.  Our male wolfie is about 6’4″ tip to tail and thinks he’s a tiny lap “dog.”  Our little one has taken to playing here despite my repeated grumblings that I am going to topple over onto my head one of these days.  And then I thought to myself, every time I go up or down I am treated to love.  It’s either from a sleeping cat who wants to nuzzle, one of the wolfies who wants a pat, or a charming vignette left behind by our child.  How blessed I am to have not just a house but really the love that makes it a home.  The famed Japanese poet Matsuo Basho said, “Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.”  For me every day is a journey landing on the landing.