What makes a house a home?

We are getting ready to sell our house.  We talked with a realtor today, and as we discussed the details of listing our house for sale, I couldn't help but contrast the bare numbers that were talked about with the rich fullness of life that has been lived here.  Not all of it has been good, but much of it has, and all of it has been so much deeper than any MLS listing or sales flyer could show.

Here is the bare-bones description:
2 bedroom, 2 bath home, 1717 square feet, built 1971.

Here are all the things I love about my home that you won't see on its listing:
1.  Lovely big kitchen, spacious enough for everyone who wants to help with dinner to pull a chair up to the counter and work away.

2.  Charming bay window, just the right height for the older kids to build with Legos on without the babies being able to reach them.  (A life-saver.)

3.  Two large bedrooms, each with its own bathroom.  One bedroom is quite comfortable for us plus a baby, the other now holds all five of our children without being crowded.  Really.

4.  Sweet details add character throughout the house: brick entry, brick half-wall with rails separating kitchen from living room, reclaimed brick fireplace with wood mantle.  Little built-in desk in kitchen (I have used it for my sewing machine).  Little things make me happy. :-)

6.  Wood floor perfect for creative works of art.

7.  Back porch just right for building things together.

8.  Firesides in the back yard.

9.  Old-fashioned mustard-yellow bathtub and scalloped sink to wash off the "accidental" by-products of firesides in the back yard.  

10.  Family room with lots of light for countless stories, games, piano practice sessions, forts, family home evenings, and even the births of two darling daughters.  Lots of life going on in this room, always.

11.  A backyard perfect for little boys and girls, complete with lots of just plain dirt.

 12.  A front walkway that now looks like a rainforest because of the love my horticulturist husband has put into it.  Those bird of paradise leaves you see behind my children are now taller than the ceiling.

 13.  A front door perfect for first-day-of-school pictures.  All of our first days of school have been in this house, so far.

14.  Countless other moments and memories that are not captured in photographs but are treasured in my heart.  This house has been perfect for us, and I am so grateful for it.  I hope its next family will love it as much as we have.